Cocopuff's Corner

 Hi.  I'm Cocopuff, the official spokesdog for Georgia Animal Rescue and Defence Inc.  Chances are you've already seen me around either at adoption events, on fliers, at the shelter, or out and about with my mom and dad.  I feel that I am particularly qualified to speak out on quality of life issues because I have a relationship with my humans that every pet would envy (also because my dad's helping me with this column as I have somewhat of a tendency to mash several keys at once and I like to chew on the mouse).  Not everyone will agree with the opinions expressed here.  Please keep in mind that this is just one facet of GARD's efforts to help improve the quality of life for pets and their humans and the views expressed here are merely the opinions of one old man and a dog who loves him. 

From Philip...

Hi.  I'm Philip, Cocopuff's "dad".  I thought it might be fun and a little more interesting to present some ideas on quality of life issues in a collaborative effort with my beloved friend, companion and "helper".  Any promise expressed on our website about refraining from anthropomorphizing is null and void here.  It is all but impossible to delve into our relationships with our pets without a certain amount of extending our thoughts and values into their personalities.  In the best of circumstances, we share a great number of commonalities.  Indeed, this is one of the things that makes these relationships so rich and rewarding.  If anyone takes offence at the thoughts and opinions expressed here, I am sorry about that.  My intent is not to offend but to question and understand in the hope that some good can come from it.

A great part of my motivation as regards to the format of this section stems from the fact that, in our endeavors, we come into contact with a disturbing number of people with callous, seemingly uncaring attitudes with regard to their pets' welfare, both physically and emotionally.  If GARD is ever going to move forward to a point where we are actually helping to provide a long-term solution to our homeless/neglected pet situation here in coastal Georgia, certain issues need to be addressed and hopefully changed for the better.  I'm a recent transplant from up north (a recovering Yankee, if you will) and I've often wondered how people here who are so much warmer and so much more human than the New Englanders with whom I've spent most of my 56 years can have among them so many individuals who almost totally lack these qualities when it comes to interacting with their domestic "pets".  The best theory that I am able to come up with comes back to the homeless pet population itself.  I found myself questioning why so many people that I run into display such a lack of compassion for their pets and treat them in such an irresponsible manner.  Now I don't expect the world at large to mirror my own attitudes and sensibilities.  I'm to a large degree a product of my environment and upbringing.  I grew up in a household where pets (and even domestic farm animals) were valued and well cared for.  Almost every dog and cat I've grown up with or had as an adult has either been a stray or been rescued from a bad situation and has been loved, pampered and spoiled rotten.  My dad had a reverence and respect for all creatures great and small that, I'm happy to say, I inherited.  I take great delight in my relationships with my pets (a number that seems to grow daily) and cherish those that soar to the level of mutual love, respect and understanding that I currently share with my Cocopuff.

So why are my attitudes so different than the individual who gets a dog, chains it to a tree in the backyard, feeds and waters it when and if the thought presents itself, neglects vetting and preventive medicine and when this empty husk of an animal dies, goes out and gets another?  I've already recognized the fact that my friends, neighbors and co-workers, as a group, display more of the human characteristics that you would think would make them more capable of love, compassion and empathy.  So why do those values not apply to our pets here?  I have to go back to environment and upbringing.  There is a process (called Value Programming by some) in the early stages of human development whereby core values that, for the most part last a lifetime, are formed and instilled by our surroundings.  What we consider normal and acceptable is, to a great degree, defined and determined by what our environment presents to us as a young child.  This process has usually solidified by the time a child reaches the age of 7 or so and these core values, once set, are highly resistant to alteration.  It usually takes something pretty significant like death, a religious experience or some other type of epiphany to modify any or all of them.  Now here I am, 4 year old Philip, growing up in rural Georgia where feral and cast-off pets do not die off in the 45 below zero winters of northern New England.  Instead, they have litter after litter of pups, kittens, whatever.  Every day I go to town with my folks or on the bus to school to see animals that have been literally ground into the pavement by traffic.  On a daily basis, I see homeless animals that are infested with fleas, ticks, and lice.  Half starving and awaiting a yet crueler fate.  What sort of core values do you think I'm forming as to the relative value of these animals?  This is normal.  Who can fault me when, as an adult, I fail to take my pooch to the vet for his shots?  Sometimes forget that his water dish has not been recently filled?  Always forget that this creature is totally dependent on me for not only the physical necessities but the equally important displays of worth and love as well? 

Even if I did not like animals, this would present me with a moral dilemma.  How on earth can we treat living, breathing, loving creatures in this manner?  How can we allow them to exist in such misery?  Here at GARD, we do our best to place hundreds of such creatures in homes where they will be valued, loved and cared for and yet, we're doing nothing.  Yes, the problem is slightly lessened in our immediate locale but the problem exists everywhere (not just in Georgia) and will continue long after we and our shelter have gone.  I'm probably not going to make many converts here.  If you're reading this, then you've already set down your core values and, although epiphanies do happen, you are not likely to alter your outlook because of anything presented here.  How about our kids though?  They are still in their "formative years" and, if we bothered, we could help them to integrate into their developing value-system a deeper sense of value, respect and commensurate responsibility when it comes to other living creatures.  GARD itself is still in its formative years but as we grow and organize we hope to put some serious effort into helping youngsters to develop healthier attitudes toward animals through special events and in schools and civic organizations as well.

Why bother?  Well, if you're like me and can delineate your life by the number of outstanding dogs (pets) you've had over the years, you already know.  If you're not, then Cocopuff and I would encourage you to read the next couple of articles exploring what can be gained through our interactions with our pets.

It is entirely unfortunate that pets are often reduced to mere possessions.  While we technically and legally own a dog, cat or whatever, having a pet solely as a possession falls far short of what could be a mutually rewarding, semi-symbiotic relationship.  As I have been drawn to dogs over the course of my life more than any other domestic, I write this from the perspective of a dog lover but the reader can easily extrapolate to suit their own situation and preferences.  I must preface this by saying that I'm probably not your average dog lover, being substantially immersed in all things doggy to the exclusion of some aspects of life that others would justifiably deem more important.  But that's me and you're you and able to choose what level of involvement (and regard) you wish to derive from your relationship with your pet.  My intent here is to merely present what is possible and allow the reader to make their own determinations.  In this modern civilization, I'm probably more of the odd duck when it comes to relationships with my animals but then I've always had a good bit of that "back to nature" thing.  My Dad had an admirable connection to the land and all the creatures it supports and I fortunately inherited/adopted many of the same values and consider myself extremely fortunate to be the recipient of this legacy.  From an historical perspective, this connection is probably much more consistent with the processes that have been occurring between man and domestic animals for the last several thousand years than what is reflected in our modern, urbanized society.  When I speak of relationships that border on symbiosis, this is not just flowery prose.  Research has shown that, since man long ago domesticated the wolf and thus sowed the seeds for what would eventually become a long and varied line of domestic dogs, the parts of our brain that formerly performed the function of watchfulness and self preservation (from predators and the like) have physically reduced in size and function.  Likewise, in the same time frame, that portion of the canine's brain that lets it think and reason has similarly diminished.  Today, this phenomenon is probably more of a vestigial manifestation of a once truly symbiotic relationship than an outright dependency on one another, but early in man's history, wolves and their progeny took over many aspects of being the watchful defender of the human family and were rewarded in kind by the humans using their natural intellect to solve the more complex issues of survival to the benefit of both species.  Given that my upbringing (and thus my value-programming) was somewhat "old school" even back in the fifties and probably seems archaic in today's urbanized society, I am probably a bit more prone to experience this tugging than many, but like I say, that's me.

Many will identify that their dogs fulfill within them some sort of unidentified need and I suggest that this is probably it.  It's present in all of our genetic programming due to thousands of years' worth of evolution/adaptation of species (whichever you prefer).  For me at a personal level, there is also an emotional factor.  My relationships with my dogs are like human relationships in a microcosm without the complications, duplicity, hidden agendas and deceptions.  This is not to say that it would be healthy to replace human interaction in favor of the simplicity and honesty of that which occurs with our pets but as a refreshing break from the stresses and pressures of life they can certainly help restore the soul in much the same manner as a trip to the ocean or a mountain stream.  I have many relationships at many levels with many dogs, but foremost among them, when I come home and my Cocopuff stops what she 's doing and races to me (usually body-slamming me in the process) with abject love and adoration in her eyes, there is a restorative quality to that interaction that cannot be denied.  Cocopuff speaks at some length about communication being important to her.  It is for me as well.  To some of you, this may seem a little flaky.  Just to provide a little personal background, I have spent the better part of three decades in the human mental health field.  A good share of this time was spent working with adults with cognitive levels ranging from immeasurably low to 18-24 months.  In this environment, we communicated with these individuals in at least some fashion.  I don't know if you ever saw the movie Rain Man (I would recommend it highly), but within this world I was privileged to experience this sort of breakthrough with an individual who had entirely shut out the world around her except that my experience was much more dramatic and intense than what was portrayed in the movie and one of the more memorable events in my life.  The reason I mention all of this is that my instincts are probably a little more honed in this respect than the average and it's probably a little more second nature for me to pick up on the communication attempts made by my canine friends.  The attempts are there though and the more that you recognize and respond to them, the more attempts will be made.  I have experienced this process with developmentally delayed humans where they first established communication with me, and only me, because I was the only one looking for it.  Once this communication was established and refined somewhat, they began to generalize this behavior to other individuals around them and with time, the world at large.  No disrespect intended here, but the average dog functions cognitively at a substantially higher level than most of the humans I worked with (science says maybe 3-4 years with an exceptionally bright dog possibly approaching the intellect of a 5 year old human) and their attempts at communication are much more readily recognized, reinforced and refined.  For me, having this communication between my pup and myself provides me with a daily dose (or several) of this Rain Man experience and greatly enriches my life and spirit.  Rain Man was an incredibly moving, touching story and yet it involved only one species.  In our co-evolution with dogs (and other domestics), our human species has been afforded a wonderful ability to achieve a similar breakthrough with a being not of our species and this to me has a mystical, almost spiritual quality to it.

This all sounds somewhat more analytical than it actually needs to be.  Why do I love my dog(s) and what makes this relationship so valuable to me?  I take pride in the fact that my dog is beautiful but much more so because she is faithful and devoted.  She is well behaved and intelligent enough to differentiate between the deportment required on a busy beach and a wooded trail with a dozen other dogs.  I love that she knows what I'm thinking and can read my moods instantly (even though I know from a scientific point of view that she's probably picking up on sounds, sights, and smells that humans miss).  I am immensely proud of the fact that this one year old dog that is, by nature, the Alpha to every dog around her can confront a situation that has the potential to become a fierce and bloody dogfight and unswervingly look for and accept my guidance and leadership in a world that is much more hers than mine.  Some will think me overly zealous and little bit crazy while others, I'm sure will consider me a tepid and not particularly committed dog fancier but the fact is, the guy who chains his hound to a tree and feeds and waters it fairly regularly or the family who goes out to get a puppy for the kids and fails to take it into the family is missing out on all of this.  If you can get any of this from your pet, you have enriched your life (and your pet's as well) in a way that would be impossible through any other means.  If you've never experienced this bond, it is very difficult as an adult to fashion it from the ground up, but if you give your kids the opportunity and education to appreciate this enriching aspect of life, you have given them the tools to reap the rewards that come from bonding with another living, breathing, loving, caring spirit and a lifetime of joy that they would otherwise not know.   

Properly trained, a man can be dog's best friend.

- Corey Ford

From Cocopuff...

 

Please forgive my dad for running on so.  He does that!  He does raise some good points though.  I believe he finished up by asking what was so worthwhile about the relationships that my kind and I have with humans.  I can only speak for myself here.  I could survive with just food and water.  True, without a vet I wouldn't live quite as long or happy a life but my ancestors did just that for thousands of years.  Many years ago, my wild ancestors found that they had some sort of special bond with humans.  By keeping each other's company, we could enrich each other's lives by helping one another out, defending them and sharing each other's experiences in life.  Over time, that bond has grown to the point that it is no longer an oddity of nature but part of our very makeup.  I believe this original bonding occurred due to the fact that we have some of the same attributes.  Commonalities I think my dad calls them and greatest among them, I think, is the need for love.  Without this, my wild ancestors might just as well have stayed in the woods.  Let me tell you what makes my life worth living.  I've got everything a dog needs.  I live with my folks at their shelter so I've got lots of friends, old and new (I'm the boss of them all).  I get plenty to eat and I get excellent medical care but being loved, I mean really LOVED is what makes my life so rewarding.  I love pretty much everyone here, dogs, puppies and people alike and I watch over things to make sure nothing bad happens to any of them but I have a very special relationship with my dad.  Sure, he picked me out of literally hundreds of rescued puppies to be his own but that, in of itself, is no big deal.  He always takes time to let me know that I am special to him, to communicate with me and do fun things with me or just let me hang out with him while he works around the yard and kennels.  Whether its taking me to the beach for the very first time, letting me lick his ice cream cone or spending some serious cuddle time, I always know that he loves me and I need that.  All dogs do.  I've always got his back and he's got mine.  The other day we were helping my grandma take her dog Jake for a walk when three big dogs came out growling and wanting to tear him up.  My dad and I got in between to make sure nobody got hurt and I was ready to fight.  There was no doubt in my mind that, if it came to a fight, my dad and I would be in it together, side by side.

I just wanted to touch a little on communicating.  Dogs are very smart and most will try to communicate (in doggy fashion) with their humans.  (For a great book on communicating with your pet, check out PETSPEAK)  The other day I was playing with my friends while my dad was working on a kennel in the back yard when the sky got very dark and the wind started to blow.  This made me a little nervous but I don't really know why.  I went out back to find him, looked up at him and then looked up at the sky and back to him.  He let me know that he was aware and was watching for any signs of danger himself (it came out a lot like "It'll be a'ight").  Or just yesterday when we took a walk in the woods and wound up on a road that we'd never been on before.  Once I realized that we weren't turning off into the old cotton field, I came running back and jumped up at his hand to ask him if he'd made a mistake or something (he is getting a little old you know).  Once again, he reassured me that everything was under control (and once again, it sounded a lot like "It'll be a'ight").  It's this part of our relationship that I find to be so special, that someone recognizes that I actually know stuff and am trying to communicate with them.  I guess that if no one listened, I'd just stop trying.

Let me tell you about our trip to the beach.  First we went shopping at this great doggy store and then stopped for ice cream.  When we got onto the beach, there were still a lot of people there and although I'm pretty well behaved, I'm a country dog.  I'm much more used to running in the woods than threading through a bunch of sunbathers.  At first I was on a leash which I HATE but, even though I could see that my dad had his doubts about letting me run free, he let me try and I rewarded him by being on my best behavior.  I'm pretty sure I put one over on him though.  My dad has his own language with me that doesn't sound much like what he uses when he talks with other humans but, at some point, he started using these hand signals that I've never seen before.  I think he was pretty impressed in thinking that I learned them so quickly but, truth is, I already knew what it was that he wanted me to do (or not do).  All the hand signals did was to let me know that he wanted something.  It's amazing that so much of our communication is intuitive and unspoken but having this bond is what makes my life worth living.