Why Not a Dog?
Dogs anyone? I don’t know too many people who don't own a pet. If so, it is usually they are allergic, too busy to care for, or have no desire to obtain or raise this kind of gift. I say gift, because though animals can be at times difficult to care for, costly, or messy…they bring a certain kind of love, and joy that no human can duplicate. Especially, dogs. Have you ever noticed how a dog has always been known as one of the most loyal pets to a human? After all, they are like little mind readers. They know our needs sometimes before we do. They even try to convince us to take action. Read further to get my drift about man's best friend.
Dogs Know When You Are Sad
When you feel sad, your dog will feel it too. He may become more subdued than usual, lose interest in his toys or even refuse his food. Most often they will lay near you refusing to move until your sadness ends. Many dogs will even try to lick away tears as they fall.
In a study published in the journal “Animal Cognition,” researchers found that a dog was more likely to approach someone who was crying than someone who was humming or talking. Furthermore, they found that dogs respond to weeping with a submissive caring behavior.
Dogs Can Sense Your Intentions
A dog’s almost psychic ability senses when something unpleasant is about to happen. Along with barking as a signal, they will pace back and forth. Their breathing becomes more intense. They know when you’re about to bathe them even before you turn the water on. I don’t know about yours, but mine high-tail it to another room to hide.
At least one study has shown that dogs read intentions by reading behavior. A 2011 study published in “Learning & Behavior” found that domestic dogs are roughly as intelligent as a 2-year-old human. That means that they are capable of understanding the meaning of roughly 165 words and that they can make sense of body language. I believe ours understand more at times, they act almost too human in this household. If I even spell the word (park), they immediately start panting. Lately, the biggest fad with our precious pooches, is playing with a laser light. They will chase it for hours if we could keep up the fun, and it's funny to watch them follow our son around the house knowing he has it tucked away in his pocket. If we ask the dogs to find the laser, they immediately start looking for it. Also, If I put my tennis shoes on, they know momma is taking them somewhere and they are already waiting by the front door.
Dogs use eye contact and gaze to figure out what people are thinking.
Dogs can Sense Diseases You May Have
If your dog has been paying particular attention to a certain area of your body, you may want to get checked out. Various studies have confirmed that dogs have the ability to detect cancer and diabetes through their profound sense of smell. Some dogs are trained to warn epilepsy sufferers when they are about to have a seizure. A dog’s ability to sense disease comes down to an ability to detect chemicals known as volatile organic compounds or VOCs. VOCs are what allows us to sense odor and though some are toxic, the term generally applies to any chemical that can get into your nose because it is a gas. While humans can detect certain potent VOCs, our limited sense of smell is no match for what dogs can do.
Depending on the breed, a dog’s sense of smell can be anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 times stronger than a human’s. That means that a dog can pick up a scent that is up to 100,000 times weaker than any scent a human can detect. A dog can detect a teaspoon of sugar in a million gallons of water.
Dogs Understand When You Feel Scared
If you feel scared, your dog will know about it in an instant. A dog’s sensitive nose can pick up on subtle scents, such as adrenaline, that he associates with fear and danger. Dogs, like humans, have a customary reaction to fear. Their hair stands up, their pupils dilate, their lips curl, and their stance changes. When they associate their fear posturing with human fear posturing, they gain an understanding of what humans look like when they are afraid.
Dogs Sense When You Are Angry
If you come home and find your dog surround by garbage can debris or a sofa shredded, placing your hands on your hips and issuing a disapproving stare is often enough to convey your anger.
You will know they know they are in trouble...when they stand with tail between their legs, and crouching to the ground. A recent study found that dogs will display this behavior when reprimanded even if they haven’t actually done anything wrong. It is clear that dogs can sense anger, but it is also clear that they can’t always understand its source.
Dogs Know If You Are A Generous Person
Just as we judge other people based on their actions, dogs will also pay attention to how you act toward others. An experiment organized by the University of Milan allowed dogs to observe humans in social situations. The dogs watched one set of actors sharing their food with a homeless man and another group telling the man to leave in an aggressive manner. Afterward, the two sets of actors attempted to call the dogs at the same time. Almost all of the dogs would respond to the generous actors when called and avoided the hostile group.
Dogs Understand If You Are A Pushover
Some of the more energetic breeds of dog, such as Labradors and Pit bulls, require a firm disciplinarian to reign in their wild behavior. Larger breeds sometimes don’t understand their own strength and can be dangerous if they suddenly decide to surprise a child or an old person with a hug. Dogs rely heavily on social chain of command to determine what they are and are not allowed to do in a setting. If you want your dog to behave, then he or she needs to see you as the alpha in the relationship.
Dogs Understand When You Are Grieving
How much dogs can understand about death is still not fully understood. There have been many stories of pets grieving for their dead owners, and many have kept up vigils next to their owner’s grave or previous home. Losing a loved one brings a deep sadness that is very unlike other kinds that result from the breakup of a relationship or disappointment at work. Your dog will understand when you are mourning a loved one and will most likely go through a grieving process of his own. He may become clingier or more attentive. Some dogs have been known to howl when experiencing bereavement.
Dogs Know If You Are A Good Person
Good, honest, trustworthy people have an aura of good energy around them. New science suggests that, contrary to what neurologists previously believed, the heart actually has a stronger electromagnetic field than the brain. It also sends messages to the brain, through neurotransmitters, that influence thoughts and behavior. When we describe someone as being “goodhearted,” it means that the person literally has a force field of good energy radiating from their heart. Dogs have been aware of this magnetic field for centuries and will naturally gravitate toward those who emit good energy.
Dogs will also know if you are a good person based on your body language and how you treat others. If your dealings with others are just and fair, your dog will pick up on that based on how people react to you. Just as the dogs above were drawn to the more generous individuals, dogs are also drawn to those they perceive as more fair or trustworthy.
Dogs Understand When You Do Not Like Someone
When we gaze at something or someone we love, a chemical reaction takes place within our body.
Dopamine and serotonin are released into our system and cause a chemical reaction that leads to feelings of happiness, joy, infatuation and ecstasy. The same thing happens when you look at a person you do not like. Except in this case the body releases a completely different set of hormones that are associated with hate, resentment and fear. Your dog can detect these changes in you, and will most likely begin to dislike the person that caused your reaction.
Of course, body language plays a role in whether your pet thinks you like someone or not. Keep in mind that any dog, even a gentle dog, may try to protect you from people it perceives as a threat.
I own two dogs. Two girls with unique personalities. One thinks she is a princess and dare not get her paws damp on rainy days, and the other would dance in the rain if I’d let her.
One thinks she should get all the goods in the feeding bowls while the other unselfishly stands back awaiting her turn or on some days hoards her food by hiding it under furniture.
One is excitable, the other could care less, only gets worked up upon the others action. Yet, both I have noticed are unconditionally loving. I remember, when one our cats were pregnant and cranky. Dixie, our oldest female Sharpie-Shepherd mix unfortunately experienced a run in with a few scratches to the face from Bella our eldest female feline.
Yet, when Bella stopped feeding her litter, Dixie...a DOG mind you, stepped in and became a surrogate mother to these precious little ones, all five of them. Dixie would gently corral them around her by their tails pulling them into her core nursing area. It was simply amazing to watch! A dog that was tackled by a cat to be so loving and tender towards her enemy's litter.
Our other dog, Millie who is a Border Collie-Lab mix also displayed such kindness towards our other pets. The cats didn’t care for Millie at first, and yet now they affectionately rub up against her. Millie always approached them playfully. When we had our finches and parakeets, Millie was fascinated like a child standing for hours at their cages, and never once harmed them as they flew through the house or walked on the floors. Just amazing, especially after one of the parakeets terrorized her once..causing Millie to stand frozen in place...terrified to move. We could leave the house for hours and let the parakeets lose and know that Millie nor Dixie would harm them. Millie especially has such a special affection towards all the other animals. If she caught a cat getting near the mice or bird cage she would chase it away. She is not only loving but protective.
I stand amazed at God’s creation all the time. My husband had questioned if dog was God spelled backwards since only a dog has been known to show unconditional love. I couldn’t find any Biblical reference to it, and as a matter of fact only found that the Bible mentions a dog in very negative terms.
However, the dog is a part of God’s creation and I believe they are a gift to humanity. I don’t believe in bad dogs, I believe that dogs can be trained to be bad. However, I do believe that dogs do have the ability to love unconditionally, and how would they know to do that but through what God has instilled in their making?
I personally have experienced the loyalty of dogs who wouldn’t leave my side for days when I was sick, or grieving. They refused to eat, or even go to the bathroom. On some days when it was difficult to get out of bed, my dogs would prompt me by standing over me and staring in my face saying, “Come on momma, get up!” or actually grabbing my arm with their paw pulling at me. All I can say, is that if a dog can love unconditionally, then it has to be because God created them to be:
Devoted + Obedient + Genuine
If you are lonely a dog will be happy to keep you company.
If you need someone to love there aren’t many other beings that can love you the way a dog can.
If you seek loyalty unto death, look no further than a dog.
If you need a laugh, the dog knows just when to offer comic relief.
And if you give your heart to a dog he will not break it.
No, I don’t think that dog is God spelled backwards, but I do believe that God who loves His children so much...created this wonderful being…a gift to humanity that carries the characteristics in which He desires from us. God desires from us devotion, obedience, and a genuine heart that loves him with our whole being.
Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
I believe that a dog could teach us a trick or too about character, how to love unconditionally, extending grace when another hurts us, laying down our life for another, comforting in times of mourning, illness, or sorrow...watching out for folk by detecting a defective heart that is broken, and encouraging it to keep it beating. Yes, a dog. Why not?
If God could use a donkey to get a point across to keep someone on track (Numbers 22:21-39), then why not a dog?
-Brenda A. Graff
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