Michael Commane
On one or two occasions I have mentioned Tess, my labrador dog, in this column. It's been a passing reference on how she has the ability to sense danger and keep an eye out for me.
But over the last few months I have been bamboozled by what she 'knows' or 'senses'.
Until the beginning of December I would open the garage door at 05.45 and take Tess for a walk.
Every morning she would be waiting inside the door, tail wagging, all set to go for her walk. After our walk she went back into the garage. Then at 08.15 I'd go back to the garage to get my bicycle to cycle to work. But she knew she was going for no walk and remained lying down on her bed.
I was always amazed at how she was able to distinguish between the two events.
Then in early January my morning schedule changed. It meant my going to the garage for my bicycle at 07.00 and then taking Tess for a walk at the later time of 08.15. Maybe after the second day of the programme change Tess realised what was happening. It meant that when I went to the garage at 07.00 for my bike she did not stir out of her bed.
I have to say I have been amazed at how she 'senses' things.
But I'm writing this column because of what happened last Tuesday morning. The previous evening I rearranged my plans for the following morning. It meant that I would be taking Tess for her walk at 06.30 rather than the new regular time of 08.15. Guess what, when I opened the garage door there she was standing, wagging her tail and all set to go for her walk. How did she know that? Can she read my mind? Is it completely crazy of me to ask did she know from the previous evening that I had a change of plan for the next morning.
I'm not a vet, I know nothing about dogs but I am greatly puzzled at what my dog seems to know or sense.
There have been occasions when out walking she has gone off on her own merry way and then later managed to find her own way back home. Yes, dogs do that sort of thing. But exactly how much do they know and sense about us?
We are all aware of how dogs can be trained. Dogs play a pivotal role in the work police and custom officials do in finding illegal drugs.
But my rascal has never had a day's training.
Honestly, I don't want to lose the run of myself but sometimes I get the feeling she senses the people who don't like me and whom I in turn don't like, because there have been occasions when she has snarled at the dogs owned by these people. And that's most embarrassing.
A doctor told a cancer patient recently that the medical profession is currently in the process of training dogs to 'smell' telltale early signs of cancer in patients.
And we think we're the 'masters of the human race'.
What do we really know about the world around us. Yes, of course there is a reality: the car passes by, the radio is turned on. But when it comes to trying to get a handle on things, especially living things, how much do we know?
How often do we get it wrong? What do we know about other people or ourselves? All those silly hunches we have about people. About God, what can we say?
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