By Cadbury FitzPatrick
Logan and I are learning that life with our new younger dog (he has grown so much that we can no longer call him a puppy), Bear, can be both enjoyable and taxing. Full of seemingly endless energy, he constantly eggs us on to join with him in roughhouse play and tug-of-war, running like the wind and investigating with wide-eyed enthusiasm every nook and cranny of the yard outside. Logan’s mobility is very limited these days, so the brunt of the responsibility for entertaining Bear falls on me. Logan listens to my complaints with little to no sympathy.
Bear is very, very bright, and full of questions (which at times can be exhausting and even a bit annoying), and his communication skills are quickly advancing to the point where he will be able to join with the two of us in our regular daily conversations. Logan says he welcomes that (see reference above to his listening to my complaints). All in all, Logan and I consider Bear to be a positive addition to our canine comradeship.
Bear has picked up a habit that neither Logan nor I particularly have: he watches television. Over the years, Logan and I have learned quite a lot about the human world by half-listening to the nightly broadcasts while lying contentedly at our humans’ feet by the couch. But Bear has taken that experience much further: he sits up tall and alert and actually watches the contraption, intently, and for hours. It may appear as if he is mesmerized by the sights and sounds it makes, but make no mistake, he is absorbing just about every bit of the information and experience.
And therein lies the rub: Bear is full of questions. He tries to make sense of what he is seeing and hearing, and constantly seeks our advice. We are finding that this can be time consuming and difficult, for much of what Bear currently sees and hears on the television is confusing, self-contradictory, and inconsistent with what Logan and I have understood and experienced in the many years we have lived with our humans.
I try to give Bear some perspective. I remind him, first, that he is seeing and hearing only a small portion of the whole story, and sometimes only one side of that story. I share that it will take experience and a bit of discipline to remember to step back a bit from what he is being told and try to put the information in context. I mention that it is perfectly fair to question whether what he is hearing is actually true, or is only partially true, or is being communicated in a manner intended to be misleading in order to promote a particular viewpoint, or is influenced by a potential bias. I tell him that all of this gets particularly confusing every certain number of years when the volume of conflicting messages increases exponentially for a period of months, and that it appears we are in one of those periods once again right now. I tell Bear that I am very sorry that he is first experiencing television in such a period, but that he should not be dismayed, as life tends to find a way to go on, that much of the noise will subside before the winter comes again, and that we will then have a few years thereafter of relative calm before the whole cycle starts all over again.
In the meantime, I advise him to come join Logan and me by the couch and experience the pleasure of just being together and enjoying life with our humans.
“And yes, I will play in the yard with you later.”
Cadbury FitzPatrick is a dog (canus lupus familiaris). A handsome example of “blue merle” Australian Shepherd, he resides in Greenwich with his human family, his dog-mentor, Logan, and new puppy, Bear. Cadbury is a frequent contributor to The Greenwich Sentinel.
