Ever see a dog enjoying a roll on a patch of cool, green grass? Who wouldn't love to be that free and unencumbered, unapologetic and unashamed. #emotionalintelligence #NoseWithFeet
When I was a kid, I read a story in Reader's Digest (who even remembers Reader's Digest? : D), can't find a copy so I can't quote it, but I can give the jist. The author was describing their family dog, a sweet, gentle and lovable yellow lab who was thought to be not the brightest bulb in the socket. With a grasp of the basic doggy manners, this lab was able to perform the standard duties but it was her humans' opinion she couldn't find her way out of a paper bag.
The excerpt wrapped up with the author's story describing how the dog, when asking to go outside to take care of business, would press her nose up against the door where it hinged instead of where it opened. The dog would stand and stumble to get to the opening as the door was pulled towards her, and the author feeling pity for the seemingly dim witted dog would give her a cookie and send her on her way out. Soon all family members were encouraged to treat the dog with pity and reward her for at least knowing how to ask to go when she had to go even if she could never figure out at which end the door opened. It was then the author revealed her epiphany. It would seem, the author admitted, a smart dog would not only know how to ask to go outside but secure a treat to go on the way and their yellow lab may be smarter than they think. Well, no kidding and I mean no disrespect, but humans appear to be the far less intelligent species of this story.
They didn't see that the dog trained them? I can almost see the pages turning as the dog figured out the process. She obviously was successfully potty trained so her humans must have gotten lucky. This dog also figured out that to press her nose up to not the opening side of the door, but rather the hinges resulted in a treat. The humans are the ones who assumed the dog was asking to go out every time she sat with her nose pressed to the door where the hinges are. Maybe the first few times the lab did have to go outside, but having gotten a reward each time she went to the hinged side of the door, she learned instead how to get a treat. For the dog there was no relationship with one side of the door or the other when it came to going outside but a huge difference when contemplating getting a treat. The dog appears to be a genius.
As usual, the humans were overthinking the situation. We believe that because humans are supposedly the superior species (who came up with that idea? most likely an over confident and unenlightened human), everything for us needs to be complicated in order to support our high self opinions. If people could just see what's real, I mean really see without preconception, and trust in the simplicity sometimes. If we could truly believe life could be as good as a roll in the grass, we could be as happy as our dogs. #mindfulness #enlightenment