| I'm a professional dog trainer. I don't ordinarily believe in | | | | Were such decisions up for a vote, his pack would |
| the mystical or magical. But I realize that when I do my | | | | surely die. When I am in a dog's world, I am the leader |
| job well, I'm not being driven by human logic or some | | | | and his pulling on the lead is merely taken as the |
| textbook knowledge. I realize that my many years of | | | | appropriate inquiry, "Are you the leader or am I?" I give |
| working with dogs has taught me to be able to cast | | | | a short snap on the leash, which brings him back to my |
| aside my human limitations and for the moments of | | | | heel and in his world, I have politely answered, " Thank |
| our human/canine interaction, I can hear and | | | | you for asking, I am the leader." |
| understand and become one with the world inhabited | | | | This question may be asked and answered several |
| by dogs. | | | | times in sundry ways during our interaction. We are |
| Let me try to explain. | | | | having a rich and wordless conversation that goes to |
| I've learned the world of dogs is a Zen like place | | | | the essence of all that needs to be known in this |
| somewhat counter-intuitive to humans. There is no | | | | particular moment. This conversation is fluid, dynamic |
| such thing as time but rather a flow of events that | | | | and constantly ongoing. An undirected stare, a paw |
| predictably cascades through the dog's world. | | | | placed on top of my foot, a lazy yawn can all be part |
| Breakfast is not at 7 am in a dog's world. Breakfast is | | | | of a rich language that is pregnant with meaning and |
| that slice of life that follows the sunrise and the birds | | | | content. Being human, I dwell on past victories and |
| chirping and master rustling about in the food bin | | | | defeats. I plan and scheme. I brood sometimes. A dog |
| accompanied by the smell of his morning coffee. | | | | does none of this for all of "this" is a moment that will |
| Although this happens at 7 am for master, this | | | | change in another moment like the breath going in and |
| happens in the dogs mind as a familiar routine that | | | | out. Dogs only care about now and when I hear their |
| could better be called an association. My dog and I | | | | owners bemoan past behaviors and challenge me to |
| both know when it's breakfast time but it's an illusion to | | | | "correct" their dog's behavior, I smile knowingly at my |
| think we both tell time. When I walk a dog I put her at | | | | canine pupil and understand that in this moment there |
| heel. If she's an untrained dog or simply unfamiliar with | | | | are a universe of possibilities that we shall discuss and |
| me personally, she will probably pull and wander at first. | | | | act upon. |
| My human logic would tell me that she wants to be | | | | Yesterday, as I was browsing a magazine and my |
| free and run and sniff the grass and bound through | | | | dog Zoe was laying by my chair curled up like a giant |
| fields like a free spirit. That's what I would desire were I | | | | question mark, I came across an interesting |
| on four young legs and equipped with a nose that | | | | advertisement. It was offering a forty-five minute video |
| could smell and sense unimagined sectors of the world | | | | on meditation and the difficult practice of "letting go and |
| that merely blow by my human nose like chards of | | | | living in the moment". I laughed out loud when I read the |
| sand in a dust storm. But I'd be wrong to think my dog | | | | exorbitant price for this vehicle to peace and tranquility. |
| thinks like me. My dog knows there is a natural order | | | | I then returned the magazine to its rack and the sound |
| to the universe and between us we shall chat and | | | | of my laugh caused Zoe to sit up. I thought to myself |
| determine our personal fit. In going on this walk | | | | that perhaps the reader of this magazine could find |
| together, it must be determined whom shall lead and | | | | better fulfillment if they merely owned and learned |
| who shall follow. In my dog's world there is no | | | | from a dog. I'm sure it was my imagination, but it |
| democracy. In my dog's world, his pack cannot stop to | | | | appeared, Zoe winked at me before lying back down |
| debate or take a vote as to what action shall be | | | | and rolling over. |
| taken when a prey animal is darting across their path. | | | | |