Pets
Related: About this forumI didn't need the pope to tell me animals have souls. I have a dog (The Guardian)
When my parents divorced after 25 years, our familys 10-year-old standard poodle, Chloe, came to live with me in a small studio on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She was big and brown, and her eyes told me that she was as sad and freaked out as I was that we had all broken apart. I was 24 years old at the time, but I felt like an abandoned little girl. Chloe and I used to lie on the floor together, listening to Joni Mitchell, as I rubbed her tummy and felt my anxious, racing breath slow down. She made me feel like I wasnt alone.
But in our first couple months together, whenever I would tie her to the meter outside the deli for five minutes and run in to grab some milk and tomato soup, she would bark wildly a howling that seemed completely disproportionate to my short absence. I always poked my head outside the door and told her, Ill be right there, trying to quiet her.
One day, it occurred to me that my promises didnt mean anything to her. Words were words. She might have understood cookie and sit and down, but trust was something I had to prove to her.
It took a while, but eventually Chloe stopped barking when I would tie her up. She knew I was coming back for her. We helped each other heal.
Link: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/14/i-didnt-need-the-pope-to-tell-me-animals-have-souls-i-have-a-dog
inanna
(3,547 posts)Last edited Mon Dec 15, 2014, 02:31 PM - Edit history (2)
or they "can't express emotions."
I think most in this group tend to feel otherwise.
My little man, "Billy":
Precious.
inanna
(3,547 posts)It was my daughter who snapped this photo of him. I'm just not that handy with the camera...lol