“I am so happy!!”
This generally transmits to us, and our contentment grows as we get so much pleasure from these expressions of happiness. We even comment on this with our friends and family; if it is a regular occurrence, we even take it for granted.
Imagine then being Cesar Fernandez Chavez, whose dog displays happiness in a rather special way, not only to him but to total strangers. In fact, if you live in New York City or have even visited his city, you may have met and received that special greeting unique to Louboutina, Loubie for short. It should be pointed out that you can’t just get this special greeting on demand from Loubie as she and she alone decide who receives her approbation. It started with Loubie wanting to hold hands, she would offer her paw, the human was expected to hold it and then Loubie would cross her other paw over the offered one and this constituted a greeting. She then moved on to her now famous “canine cuddle” which involves Loubie sitting on her haunches and holding gently on to the leg of her designated new human friend.
As Cesar says, “We walk every day, but we just don’t get very far.”
We all know that birds use the magnetic field for migration; however, according to scientists, your dog also uses the planet’s magnetic field for a strange reason. Have you ever considered which direction your dog faces when doing their “business”? Let’s be honest: if we need to do the business, we have little interest in the direction that we are facing. Basically we need to go and that’s it, however, our best friend has other ideas We have all observed the almost fanatical care taken by our dog to find the exact spot on which to perform their toilet however, requiring the perfect place is not just an art form but requires exact coordinates.
The journal Frontiers in Zoology published research that studied the toilet habits of 70 dogs of 37 breeds over a two-year period and witnessed 1893 defecations and 5582 urinations. The results were that dogs made every effort to place themselves along the North-South axis and conscientiously avoided the East-West axis. It should be noted that this ONLY, occurs in a “free roaming environment” ie without walls or roads. The study is unable to explain how this occurs, it could be sensory, ie sight, hearing or smell. It could be a conscious decision or even a haptic stimulus (touch) plus a vegative level (they feel better or worse in a certain direction) Quite frankly why the scientists can’t use normal language that we common peasants understand I really don’t know.
Don’t bother asking for an explanation regarding the canine toilet habits because scientists don’t have a clue why this occurs. Another strange fact is that the canine is the only mammal that exhibits this behaviour. That said, there is evidence that the earth’s magnetic field even affects fish.
Why not check it out for yourself. Take a compass, check which direction is North and wait and see what happens, but stay away from walls and roads and your dog must be off the lead.
Now, for those of you who live around The Falkland Isles, there is supposed to be a phenomenon called The South Atlantic Anomaly, which, as I understand it, means that there is a disruption to the magnetic field. This may mean your dog may not be able to find the North-South axis!!
For anyone unfamiliar with the term “bucket list”, it refers to the list of things you want to do before you die. This is usually made by the person who has decided to do all the things that they wish they had done but never got around to doing because circumstances or time never allowed.
Well, Thomas Neil Rodriguez did make a bucket list, but his list was different. It wasn’t for him. It was for his terminally ill dog. Poh was a crossbreed, a much-loved pet who had been adopted at eight weeks of age from a New York shelter, which, in his old age, developed tumours. Sadly, the tumours were inoperable, and Thomas decided to travel with Poh, and a variety of landmarks were visited. Disneyland, Mount Rushmore, the Seattle Space Needle, Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco were some of the famous places, along with a visit to the ocean. The experience in the ocean needed one of those canine wheelchairs designed for paralysed animals. The road trip was designed so that Thomas and his fiancée could spend as much with Poh as possible. Poh travelled in his green carriage, and his adventures were followed on Instagram. His journey covered around 40,000 miles, took in many cities, and he was present when his owners got married. Despite the terminal prognosis, Poh would live for another year when he finally passed away peacefully.
Poh RIP
“If you can’t love a dog like a family member, don’t get one because they look at you as a pack member and to them that is family.”
Anon
With subtitle or not?