After I was bitten by a nasty Pekinese in my childhood, I thought I\u2019d never warm to the man-dog friendship. Life would later prove just how wrong I was, but back then I managed perfectly well without a four-legged companion, and dogs, for their part, weren\u2019t exactly pining for me either.<\/p>\n
Funnily enough, that cold and detached attitude to dogs didn\u2019t turn me into a cat person. It is a truth universally acknowledged that humanity divides more or less half and half into dog people and cat people. Me being me, I was an island somewhat apart, greatly appreciating individualism, even if at the time I didn\u2019t put any name on it, nor, to tell the truth, thought much of it. In any case, for the time being I had no intention of thrusting myself into those long-established pigeonholes.<\/p>\n
Once I finally came round to dogs, I noticed that I got on better with the larger breeds. Large dogs have all the qualities that I appreciate and are easier to train, even if they certainly demonstrate strong characters. They are not usually aggressive, yet they pack a punch and won\u2019t hesitate to defend their owner when push comes to shove. Their dormant strength gives me a sense of peace and security.<\/p>\n
I crossed the Pekinese off my list, as all the little ratters had always held some unjustified grudges against me. Which made my choice obvious.<\/p>\n
What counts most in animals, and what you can\u2019t see at first glance, is their psyche. A lot can be read in their eyes. Training a dog goes some way, but you won\u2019t control what\u2019s happening inside the head.<\/p>\n
Living in a city, for obvious reasons I couldn\u2019t have a canine companion. Even if many won\u2019t agree, I believe that you shouldn\u2019t keep a large dog cooped up in a flat in a tower block. It goes against its nature and needs.<\/p>\n
However, every house should have its dog, one to be its guardian. I find a house and a dog a perfect match.<\/p>\n
I had dogs that arrived not by my choice but by pure accident. One of them was a chow chow. Brought over from the Netherlands for some friends, he couldn\u2019t settle with his new owners. Their family couldn\u2019t handle the little one, so I was left with no other option but to take in the mischievous pup. And that is how the chow chow joined my pack. And a pack it was, for at the time I had two Alsatians, managed with an iron paw by the third \u2013 a bitch I\u2019d rescued from the construction site for my house. She was a mongrel with clear wolfish traits, and incredibly loyal and protective to boot.
\nAdopting animals has a powerful virtue: they reciprocate the human feelings. You won\u2019t find more devoted or faithful dogs.<\/p>\n
Brought up among German shepherds, my chow chow picked up a few of their habits: he started barking, and grew fiercer, revealing his strong character.<\/p>\n
Yet it is large shepherd dogs that finally stole my heart, and these are the breeds I believe I\u2019ll stay with for life. Today, I\u2019m living with the latest generation I\u2019ve brought up myself.
\nI\u2019ve always been keen on the shepherd\/dog pairing. Some other dogs really struggle when they live next to their rivals. It\u2019s another matter with the Bernese and Swiss shepherds. They know how to make peace and lead their dogs\u2019 lives together.<\/p>\n
Dogs are more loyal than cats. For the owner, they are a wonderful breakaway from the daily grind with thoughts of work, duties, and reasons to worry. When I\u2019m very tired, I take the dogs out \u2013 they enjoy it and I unwind. I rejoice in their generous and honest selflessness. All they want is tenderness and your presence. Their company helps me shut the outside world out.
\nComparing that canine refuge of mine to the magic of the piano, they both transport me to another dimension. Keeping dogs is a form of therapy.<\/p>\n
Animal sensitivity allows communication. They do respond to words.
\nHorses are a similar case. Recently, my Mirage\u2019s trainer told me: \u201cSpeak to her, she is listening. Just speak. Or, better yet, sing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some claim that owners start to resemble their pet. And I guess they\u2019re right. I have frequently observed owners and their dogs. The alignment and attuning work both ways. This astounding flow of characteristics is both physical and mental.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d be loath to name my favourite dog.
\nWhen asked by my children which of them I loved the most, I told the truth: the only difference is how long I\u2019ve loved them.
\nWhich dog would I take to a desert island? The first one I had, and then I\u2019d return to fetch the following ones, until in the end they would all be with me.<\/p>\n
Dogs react to music. They listen carefully, as it is a novelty for them, and an intriguing one. A different world. My dogs enjoy listening to music when we walk, and I play it from my phone. Music means that our walks are more fully shared, almost intimate. We are surrounded by nature, animals walking by my heel, and then music springs into the air. Together they make my fatigue float to some place far away from me.
\nI can hear the soft pattern of my dogs\u2019 paws and their breathing. Dusk has fallen, but with them beside me, I feel no evil. I am safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After I was bitten by a nasty Pekinese in my childhood, I thought I\u2019d never warm to the man-dog friendship. Life would later prove just how wrong I was, but back then I managed perfectly well without a four-legged companion, and dogs, for their part, weren\u2019t exactly pining for me either. Funnily enough, that cold […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/januszbielecki.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/januszbielecki.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/januszbielecki.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/januszbielecki.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/januszbielecki.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1036"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/januszbielecki.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1037,"href":"https:\/\/januszbielecki.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036\/revisions\/1037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/januszbielecki.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/januszbielecki.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/januszbielecki.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}