To the Dogs

I’m not a real dog enthusiast, but there used to be dogs all around. If you walked down the street, then you would meet dogs every few hundred feet. They’d come over and sniff you, unless they were interested in something in particular, and they’d just keep trotting along. Or there’d be dogs chained in backyards that would bark or howl at you as you passed. There weren’t many vicious dogs, but every now and then a dog would bite someone, but the bites were usually minor; intended as warnings rather than attacks. Earlier today I noticed once again that there weren’t any dogs in sight. I suppose that there may be some dogs hidden inside where they can dig into the trash, scratch up floors and woodwork, or maybe they are tranquilized so they can stay inside all day without going crazy. Regardless of the reason, I kind of miss the dogs.

The earliest evidence of the domestication of dogs is only about 30,000 years old, but there are reasons to think that humans have been dealing with dogs for a few hundred thousand years. To a significant degree we two species grew up together; we were eating some of the same things. Dogs became our friends and partners in work. They changed to fill the roles that we gave them. But they also were out friends. They were companions when we walked, whether we were hunting, collecting berries, or just thinking, and they were happy to wander along for a walk in the woods, and run off to play.

More recently dogs were burglar alarms, and they announced guests. Sure they might smell a little, and they shed, but they aren’t as irritating as cats. You don’t need a pit bull to keep intruders away, because few people will gamble on the good nature of any dog, if the owner isn’t present. They even announced strangers at the houses of other people.

I don’t know when regulations that restricted the freedoms of dogs and of people to have dogs were first introduced, but such regulations have expanded to the point where it is difficult for someone to have a dog, but the regulations probably started in densely populated areas and expanded into more rural areas. Now it is rare to see dogs even in actually farming areas. I don’t hang around in the backwoods, so I don’t know how they are doing there. Apparently because of complaints by people who don’t like dogs most of the dogs are inside, where their barking can’t be heard by the dog hating neighbors. Except for some lap dogs, dogs aren’t indoor animals. I’d have to look up the statistics, but I believe that dogs have typically been getting smaller, because people have chosen smaller dogs for indoors.

I’m not a real enthusiast of dogs, but they are pleasant and friendly. Even if you don’t like dogs, they’ll meet you half-way; they’ll give you the benefit of a doubt. If they happen to be sociopaths, then, like people, they will let you know before they attack, but sociopaths are less common among dogs than they are among humans, and I’ve never met a dog that was a religious fanatic. They almost always have the attitude of live and let live. 

I don’t travel much, but I suspect that dogs have become less popular in most of the world as economic development has expanded. It might be a good idea to reverse that trend so that humans can have dogs as exemplars to show them good behavior, and to remind them what to do with individuals who refuse to allow others to live their own lives, within the limits of live and let live. There might be a little barking and droppings, but that would be a small price to pay.