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What do you think we learn from animals?
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Barbara, Founder and Moderator
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Feb 10, 2013 04:48PM
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A resounding YES. I never thought I would be able to "mess" with their needs--and less with their "offerings" always being a bit on the prissy side...Although I still am when it comes to cleaning up after them.As to calming us down, again "Yes." I just read the "look inside" of Luis's heartfelt book "Until Tuesday." It is a love-letter to his service dog, a Golden Retriever--from the get-go, I was prepared to bawl. Instead, I had to laugh out loud--Luis mistakenly uses Tuesday's toothpaste...that little humor steels you for what's to come. In short, Luis's story more than emphasizes the healing effect of a companion animal.
And we could learn sensitivity from them (sensibility too). One of my rescues, a little tuxedo harbor beast, always knew when an earthquake would hit San Diego seconds before it did...Off the bed in one leap--sure enough. Now, Lilliput alerts me to a coming thunderstorm. Pasha, alas, can sleep through anything--except breakfast.
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I had to laugh at this. Sounds like my dog Tucker.
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I agree. There are so many different jobs for service dogs.
I wish there was a dog to lead my sister's blind dog around. I have heard of other animals attaching themselves to blind animals to lead them.
Three examples come to mind, a horse, a cat and a bunch of dolphins:I was taught to ride by a horse. A beautiful thoroughbred mare.
I once had a dreadful panic attack while alone in my country house far from neighbours. My cat took COMPLETE charge and did everything in her power to help me. She just KNEW!
I was taught a whole way of thinking and living by an imaginary society of dolphins, who exist only in my head.
I know some people say they have learned compassion from animals and I believe it but, although animals have taught me a lot, this is not something I learned from them. I have experienced the calming effect that animals can have. I know I always feel calmer when I have a purring cat in my lap. It doesn't work if it's my dog in my lap, I have tried him, but it is the purr that works for me. Back when the old barn cat, Lucky, a shorthair black cat, was alive it would halp me to cuddle with her before a riding lesson, especially when I was trying out a new horse. My second rabbit, Oreo, a Dutch Mix, had a really big calming effect on people. I often was so relaxed with her that I would find myself taking a nap while cuddling with her and she would take a nap with me. I also managed to get relaxed enough with her just being in the same room as me and found myself napping in strange places. Some normal ones like my bed or the couch in our family room. Then there were others like once I curled up with her on the bathroom rug, because the bathroom was the only place I could let her play at that moment, at least after I made it bunny safe. Another time I was watching her in her cage in the garage from on top of the hood of my Grandma's car and managed to fall asleep on that. And there was another time I was outside with her and took a nap under a tree, which also strangely was next to a hammock that I could have used. My mom also experienced Oreo's calming effect. Even now just thinking about her I feel it.
I feel there is a lot we can learn from animals, and for me this is how I learn things best. Often people would try to teach me something but it had no effect until I experienced or learned whatever it was from an animal. I know that it was Taco, back when I began teaching him new tricks, that taught me the rewards of patience. I didn't have this experience with my first dog because being a Toy Poodle, CeJaye picked things up very quickly. Taco needs constant reminding and repeating, even if it's only an hour later and he had it perfect earlier. When he finally gets what I want him to do it's really fun to watch Taco's reaction to the praise he gets. I also know that if was CeJaye that first taught me how much the little things count. I was in first grade when I got CeJaye and I didn't think anything about it and treated him as if he were human and occasionally got into fights with him just as I did with my sister. Sometimes I got bit by him when I did something too roughly with him. It seems almost strange to say this but CeJaye didn't like violence in his house. To keep peace sometimes my sister and I got bit. It sounds strange at first but it did stop us from fighting around him. If I hit my sister or she hit me, whoever did the hitting was going to get bit. And it all started because it was something I did to him first. As I got older I didn't do this to him anymore but I always had to be aware of what I was doing around him because the second he saw a fist being made a growl would begin. Then it was, come to close with it and get bit. If it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't have ever started thinking about things before doing them, but now I do that a lot...not all the time, but a lot of it.
It's actually kind of funny that you are asking this now because a week ago I wrote out a blog post that I want to make titled Familiars and Real Life Animal teachers that I planned to use at some point that talks about what animals can teach us.
I think animals can teach us a lot about the nature of friendship and loyalty to your friends and loved ones. And there have been scientific studies as to the effectiveness of animals at calming or soothing humans. The frequency of purring cats actually seems to spur healing and bone growth, both in the animal and (at least potentially) in the human. I talked about his a bit in my book, but there are available studies on the web that discuss this. Both cats and dogs are also quite good at "reading" us...they known when you're injured or ill, and will what they can to help, even if that's just hanging about. There are too many people who don't give cats and dogs (and other animals) the respect they really deserve...cats and dogs especially are domesticated animals who've been with us as friends and partners for thousands of years, and that experience has affected all parties involved.
Dolphins and whales teach us how to be intelligent, spiritual, loving beings and they have no hands so they cannot ever be grasping or possessive. However they do have flippers which can perform the most loving caresses as you can see in this beautiful video:http://vimeo.com/57317877
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Adam, I agree with you that animals are able to read us. Probably better than we do at times.
Animals all have their own personalities and things they like and don't like. I'm really glad that dogs are now used as service dogs and can help people in so many ways.
Tui, I've saw a show about how intelligent dolphins really are. It's sad how they have to deal with "bad" humans, and people polluting their water.
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I know for myself also that my dogs have a calming effect on me too.
I know they help children when their sick feel better. Our animal shelter started a "read to a dog or cat" program. The kids can go in a room and just sit with a dog or cat and read to them or just read while they have a animal close by. It's great cause the animal gets attention and the children read more. The children also get to learn how to be around animals and compassion towards them.
My dogs cats and horses always know how I feel. One example is of a night 2 years back when I awoke to a nasty upset stomach. My cat Rossie was on my bed, purring like a motor. He followed me in three different trips to the bathroom and back. Then he cuddled up to me under the covers when I was at last settled enough to sleep. Later that same night I woke up again, feeling almost normal at about 6 in the morning and Rossie had left. My other cat Ginger was now curled up beside me purring away. Every time I have felt sick, the cats seem to take care of me in shifts.
There is quite a lot we can learn from animals, one of the many is their example of unwavering love and loyalty.
There is quite a lot we can learn from animals, one of the many is their example of unwavering love and loyalty.
