The Power of the Walk

"Don't go thinking and thinking and thinking so much 'til you are losing your mind......You're twisted so tight now you can hardly talk. Get out in the daylight and go for a walk."
Thinkin' Steve Forbert

Thanks to a change in Tim's work schedule, I go for two walks most days, in the morning with Tim and the afternoon with Mandy. Dogs need to go for a walk everyday. We need to see and smell the world. We need stimulation. We need to feel the blood flowing through our body. It is a great bonding time with our pack. If we don't go for a walk, we get stressed and go a bit crazy. Then we can be labeled "bad dogs."

It seems to me that walking is equally therapeutic and necessary for humans. As Steve Forbert is saying in his song, it is a chance to forget your troubles and be in the moment. The repetitive action of walking is a type of meditation. It is such a simple, satisfying and lasting joy. You feel the blood flow down into your paws (or feet) and everything starts to flow better.

One of the benefits of a person having a dog is that it forces him/her (hopefully) to go for a walk. Even if you don't have a dog, I say go for a walk. Some people are a bit cut off from nature. Even if you are in an urban jungle, walking as an activity is nature itself and you're bound to get some glimpses of trees and grass.

I could go on and on. There are many benefits of walking I haven't touched on so maybe you, hounds and humans, can tell me the benefits of your walks.

Life is great when you are going for a walk.

Why do dogs have people?

"It has been shown that owning a dog reduces high blood pressure by about ten points, reduces the risk of heart attack, and actually increases life span. These benefits do not come about simply because owners are forced to take more exercise when they walk their dogs. They are attributable to stress reduction. By focusing some of our attention on pets, we're able to cast off some of our nown anxieties. I sometimes wonder, though, whether our own neediness doesn't add to our pets burdens. It seems quite possible that troubled and neurotic owners might unwittingly adversely affect their pet's well-being."

If Only They Could Speak Nicholas H. Dodman

So why don't a pack of dogs at the dog park get together and plan an escape? They could go bush and escape their people's neuroses for good. The answer is the same as to why humans don't run from their neurotic families. (Of course, they do and should if it is bad enough.) We (humans and dogs) are all pack animals. We love the good and the bad of our pack. We don't even label it, "good" and "bad". We stick by them. We are there when they need us. People and dogs can be treated cruelly in their family/pack and this is very sad. But everyone is doing the best they can and, generally, it is a mix of good and bad, and I believe mostly good. So us dogs get a lot from our relationship from humans. The better off they are, the better off we are. And vice versa. The goal of the whole thing is to spread the love.

This is a picture of me eating a carrot. They are tasty, great to chew and they keep my teeth clean.

Life is great when you spread the love.

A Friend

We had a friend visit our backyard yesterday. She was a blue-tongued skink, a type of lizard. I greeted her respectfully and then told Tim. He got the camera and took this photo. She is about 40 cm long. Yesterday, Tim saw a kangaroo in the woods. I heard something but didn't see him. Tim just got a glimpse of the tail as he bounded away. I was on the lead, otherwise I might have investigated. I think It is this fondness for enquiring about the wildlife that caused me to be on the lead.

Life is great when you are visited by a blue-tongued skink.

The Future Economy

I jumped into my Hoobers Mobile and whizzed back to 2323. For those who came in late, I have built a time machine and go to 2323, where the dogs have fingers and thumbs and are the dominant species.

"Hey, Ruby! You're back!" Wally greeted me with a whole body wag. He invited me in and we sat down for a cup of tee. We talked about the current state of the world for a while.

"The news is coming on. You can learn about things there."

He turned on the 3D TV and there was a Golden Retriever reading the news.

"Latest figures show that we are enjoying the second month of economic slow down. We are now officially in recession and all over the country people are having recession parties."

Images of dogs frolicking filled the living room.

"Your reaction to a recession is a little different to 2009. Why is everyone so happy?"

"Why wouldn't we be happy? We now work less."

"Aren't people losing their jobs?"

"No. Everyone's hours and pay are cut."

"Isn't it hard to make ends meet?" I asked.

"No. Everyone knew this was going to happen. It is what always happens. It is part of the cycle. We prepare for it during boom times and those who didn't prepare so well don't mind getting by on less. Oh look it's our prime minister, Brenda."

The mixed-breed dog said, "the government has done a good job of stymying economic growth, which was getting out of control. Australian working families are now playing families as well as being working families."

"Come on! Let's join in the fun." Wally exclaimed.

We ran out his front door to see the street full of hounds. Sally, the Dachshund, was rolling around with a Terrier. A fat Golden Lab was throwing a ball. A pack of dogs were chasing and it always seemed to be a Cattle Dog Cross who got it. The ball rolled past us and Wally picked it up and ran in the other direction. All the dogs ran after the Beagle and I joined them. After a good while, we were all knackered and lay under a try. A Bulldog came out with tea for everyone. It was a thoroughly enjoyable recession. I bid farewell to everyone and promised to be back soon.

Life is great when you have time to play.

Lying position number 134

When you're lying around waiting for walks or food, philosophising, listening out for action or simply and solely lying, it is important to be in a comfortable position. Of course, each lying position is good for a different purpose. This is a good one that you can comfortably stay in for a long time and still see and hear what is going on. It is relatively easy to get up and check out kitchen activity or make sure the noisy miners are behaving themselves in the back yard.

I can feel a trip to the future coming.

Life is great when you are lying in position number 134.

Yowie

We were visiting Bill, our 95 year old neighbour (that's 13 in dog years), he is very interesting and tells us about the old days. He lent us a book about Oxley, the part of Brisbane where he grew up. He is mentioned in the book. It is called, "Oxley! A Mind of Its Own. A History of a Suburb with Attitude, 1850-1950" It is written by Ralph Fones. Here is an extract;

"It is likely that prior to and during white settlement, that hominids frequented the local area. In other districts around Brisbane, such as Springbrook and Kenmore there have been sightings of hominids- gorilla-like primates, some eight feet (2.5m.) tall and often referred to by Aborigines as 'Yowies'. They were considered 'omnivorous, nocturnal and territorial creatures', had a highly distinctive odour, and not very fond of dogs. White settlers had observed them around Sydney Cove as early as 1795... Increased heavy development of the area most likely forced this creature further and further into the scrub."

I have heard of Yowies before but never heard them described as "likely" in a seriuos book. I thought they were made up to scare pups in the dog park. The troubling part is, "not very fond of dogs." He doesn't explain what this actually means. Does it mean that they are more cat people? Or is it something more sinister that doesn't bear thinking about? Next time I am in the woods, I am going to be very attentive for a "distinctive odour." You never know Tim might get a photo (if he is not busy retreating.)

This photo is called, "Do you smell a distictive odour?"

Life is great when you don't see an eight-foot creature who is not very fond of dogs.

Words, words, words

Don't humans love words. Be it big ones like "anthropomorphism," little ones like "a" and "to" or medium ones like...."medium." (By the way, why is "abreviation" such a big word?) They are forever talking, reading, wathching the TV or listening to the radio or music, which usually contain words. They even have lots of technology to make sure that they are never far from words. They spend very little time not using words. I think that is one reason that thay enjoy spending time with dogs, cats and other animals. Dogs can understand a few words and on the rare occasion even learn to speak a few but that's it (apart from blogging of course.) Words can be very useful and a lot of fun but they can also confuse and mislead. Become too caught up with words and you can lose sight of what is real, for words do not contain any truth in themselves but point in the direction of a truth. Whereas, you can not lie to a dog. We can not be fooled with fancy words or ideas.

Life is great when you are lost for words.