You're So Stupid!

I'm reading this book called "A Dog's Purpose" by W. Bruce Cameron. The book is written from the dog's perspective - as in, the dog is the voice narrating the book. This is just hilarious to me. I guess I'd never thought about what my dog might be thinking, or how she's interpreting life.

Here's a snippet from the book, where a policeman owner is training the dog (a german shepherd): "One day we went out into the woods and met a man named Wally, who petted me and then ran away. 'Where's he going, Ellie? Find him! Find him!' I watched Wally, and then trotted off. Wally saw me coming and got a stick, and we played with it for a few minutes. Then he took off again. 'Find him, Ellie! Where'd he go?!' I ran after him. 'Good dog, Ellie. Good dog.'

As intelligent games go, I'd rank this one right up there with chasing the frisbee. Wally and Jacob enjoyed the game, so I went along with it, especially since afterwards, we got to play Tug-on-a-stick, which I thought beat Find Wally any day."

The book implies that dogs live their life and serve a purpose (to be a best friend to a boy, for example), and then they die, are reincarnated as a new breed of dog and have a new purpose (as a police dog, for example). They build on their experience and previous lives to guide them.

SO.....either my dog is in her FIRST life and has NO experience to build on, or she's had enough lives that she's just like "whatever, you're stupid, I'm not playing with a ball." Every day, when it's time to feed her, I ask her, "What? What do you want?" and she scratches at her food. "Where does it go?" She scratches at her bowl. And then I feed her.

I thought this was a cute trick. But after reading this book, I think she must think I have dementia. "It's right HERE, stupid lady. It goes HERE. MUST we do this EVERY time I need to eat?" I laid in bed and laughed out loud at this thought last night.

Sometime if you're bored, try thinking like your dog. You might be surprised what a tickle you get. Maybe they're not the stupid ones!