Andrew asked what Sheba looked like, so I'm posting this for him.
Sheba is a Border-Collie mix about 9 or 10 years old.
It's hard to get a good picture of her because she gets anxious when I start snapping photos and it shows on her wonderful face. Her expression in this photo is one I often see when she looks at me.
I've always considered myself to be a cat person and I can't explain why I love her so much. She doesn't do much. She just follows me around from room to room and sleeps near my feet. She stinks, she scratches herself, she chases the cat and she leaves a trail of hair behind her wherever she goes.
But when I look at her, I feel my heart opening up with the complete love and pleasure I feel only when I see the COG, my children and the people I love best. Isn't it strange? How did that happen?
5 comments:
How did that happen? I'm not intending to be too boringly literal-minded here, but...Mirron neurons. If a creature (or COG or child) looks at you all the time with that happy, happy expression, certain neurons in your brain mirror the expression, you respond with the same feeling, and it is love, love, love. Such a clever dog!
It is the physiological basis for sage maternal advice that "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" and "put on a happy face" or Broadway testimonials such as "While shivering in my shoes, I strike a careless pose and whistle a happy tune, and no one ever knows, I'm afraid" because "The result of this deception is very strange to tell for when I fool the people I fear, I fool myself as well!"
It is a splendid picture of the two of you.
You need to watch the Nature programs i blogged about. The ones about dogs. This may be a part of what happened when wolves became dogs.
Interesting about mirron neurons. It explains some things to me that I've wondered about.
It happened to me, too, in the 2 weeks I was in B'ham with you. If you will recall, I'm the one who at the end of the stay was letting Sheba sleep on my bed with me, even though she had the untreated skin allergy at the time, so the stinking and shedding was particularly bad. And I don't consider myself a dog lover, either.
Dog magic because I've known a lot of other dogs that I just didn't feel this way about. Even Juno, who did love me and always greeted me so joyously. I loved her, but just not in the same bonded way.
Maybe she is a Narnian dog?
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