intermission - Dogs

Lots of dogs don't know they are dogs. In fact this confusion is not unusual in dogs that are raised in families. Because the dogs live with humans, they assume that they too are human with all of the privileges that the two legged beings have. This weekend however, I met a dog who has taken species confusion to a whole new level.

She thinks that we are dogs! I don't think she has a clue that she is different from us, but it is not that she is like us, but rather we are like her. When she wants to play, she barks and gently chews on the wrist of the human. When she wants to show affection, she grooms (licks) the person's hand (or any other part of the body that she can reach) for hours on end. You can't get mad at her because yelling at her or chasing her is exactly what another dog would do in response to her barking or the gentle chewing on some extremity. If you take your wrist away because the licking is getting annoying, she just sees that as another way of playing and she works all the harder at finding another body part to lick.

I noticed that she demonstrated the exact same behaviours when she played with another dog in the park. She barked, chewed and teased the other dog until it chased her. Quite remarkable. I don't have a clue how they are going to train her out of her false assumption.

Of course it may just be that my hairy appearance confused her and now that I have left - she is back to normal.