Found by corbie, posted by request.
Thank-you for your excellent posting Slings And Arrows. :)=^..^=
It is a good measure of a person’s character in how they treat their animals. Not talking about the people with mental problems that actually hurt their pets but think they are helping (ie hoarders), but the average person.
That’s beautiful. Thank you.
Okay for some reason I’ve been needing a good cry lately. Thanks for making that happen.
I'm always awed when I see my 120 pound Newfoundland mix eat
a large bone like I would eat a piece of candy. Then take a
treat from my four year old grandson with the finesse of a
brain surgeon.
Huge bump...
Tearjerker.
Thank you for the beautiful post. I’m almost 50 and never had a dog. I just got my first puppy. He’s a 9 week old beagle mix. A real handful, but such a joy to have around. Thanks.
11) When we go for a walk let me stop and smell the urine. I can’t explain it to you but it is endlessly fascinating to me.
I broke the 10th commandment. Only once. That was 6 years ago. I felt like a coward. Never again.
Is this copyrighted or can I reprint it in our Humane Society newsletter if I give credit to the author?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOXP2
The FOXP2 gene is carried by many mammals, and is closely associated with speech in several ways. Humans have a unique mutation of the gene that makes it much easier for us to talk to each other.
The human mutation of FOXP2 was transplanted into mice DNA, and resulted in “chatty” mice, that spent much of their time chattering with each other. It also increase their vocal range.
It is generally believed that smarter dogs can understand in context as many as 300 human words.
So the big question becomes, “What if the human mutation of FOXP2 was put into a fertilized dog ova, and the resulting puppies were born and raised?”
It is unlikely that dogs could contextually speak many words, and likely they would be monosyllabic. Say perhaps only a dozen, that they could use consistently and accurately.
But if this was the case, what dozen words would you like your dog to be able to say to you, to communicate with you? Some that come to mind are:
Yes, No, Pain, Thirsty, Alert, Come, Play, Potty, and the ever popular Love.
Note that this is very different from the “talking dogs” videos, in that those are more or less parroting on command, but this would be spontaneous and with a purpose.
A great post and one of the things which separate Americans from so many other cultures. We treat dogs like family...and rightly so.
I’ve never met a good/likable person who didn’t like dogs.
I try to avoid talking to my dogs, though I forget a LOT, and to not use a bunch of extra words they don't understand. I want them to know that when they hear a word from me it means something, and they should know what that something is. I would think that having someone talking to you all the time but only understanding a tiny bit of what was said and not even knowing if you were supposed to understand would be quite stressful.
I don’t know who said it but it is true, If you want a friend in life get a dog.
Aww crap.. I have this dog, a young American Bulldog, she drives me crazy, but these commandments are absolutely right.. that dog could kill me at the drop of a hat, and yet she loves me.. I will think of this post every time I get mad at her..