Dogs Make Us Human

Australian Museum ^ | 3-25-2002 | Heidi De Wald

[blam]

The last I read about wolf domestication stated that wolves were domesticated at least four different times and the earliest was 14k years ago.

[pa_dweller]

I hope the poetry people don't find out I did this!  : )

"The Power of the Dog"

By Rudyard Kipling

"GARM -- A HOSTAGE" -- ACTIONS AND REACTIONS

There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie --
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find -- it's your own affair --
But . . . you've given your heart to a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!)
When the spirit hat answered your every mood
Is gone -- wherever it goes -- for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept'em, the more do we grieve;

For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long --
So why in -- Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

Yep, been there, done that.

[Johnny Gage]

Thanks. Pass the Kleenex please. This past saturday we had to put down our 10yr old family dog.
She was diagnosed with a fast growing mast-cell tumor.

Very timely article, and poem! Thanks.

PS: Our family welcomed it's newest member on Sunday, a 7 wk old pup.

[Maceman]

Dogs are idiots. They are drooling, boorish, noisy, polluting, gluttonous, crotch sniffing irritating beasts that may offer some limited functional use for protection, herding and the like, but generally are more of a nuisance than they are worth. On the whole, I think we are all better off without them.

(signed)
Maceman's cat

[Slip18]

Beautiful poem by Rudyard Kipling, pa dweller. And my heart bleeds for Johnny.

Maceman's cat: Sounds like a pretty catty remark to me. Our dogs protect our cat. I'll bet you're a real nasty little thing. LOL!

[pa_dweller]

Maceman's Cat: Bookmark this page,

101 Uses for a Dead Cat

[pa_dweller]

PS: Our family welcomed it's newest member on Sunday, a 7 wk old pup.

Good, that should soften the blow.

[austingirl]

You have my heartfelt sympathy for your loss. Best wishes for the new little life. I had to put my 10 Y/O greyhound to sleep 4 months ago because of a fast-growing cancer that covered his heart and filled his pericardium. I believe in multiple dogs so I still have my two little terrors (terrier mixes) to keep me company.

Dogs are the best, so there, Maceman's cat! I must say, that cat is a pretty good typist.

[blam]

Thanks the poem. Click on my name to see my doggies.

[CasearianDaoist]

I'm so sorry. May the new one ease your sorrow.

[CasearianDaoist]

I cannot see your dogs.

[grammymoon]

me either

[habs4ever]

ping a ling ;-)

[blam]

You can't see my four dogs on my profile page? I just checked, they're there.

[Pharmboy]

As my favorite bumper sticker says (seen in Alexandria, VA):

Be the person your dog thinks you are

[grammymoon]

I see your babies now, they are looking at you with total adoration. It looks mutual too!
Good looking dogs.

[andysandmikesmom]

Thanks for the great poem...I have copied it, its so true and so sweet...my hubby and I have lost several of our dogs over the years, and we wonder why God gave such a short lifespan to a dog, and a much longer one to us humans...perhaps because there are so many doggies in this world, which need love...Its just so very hard, when you love your dogs so very much, they die so far ahead of you....

[HairOfTheDog]

Also good:

Every young boy should have a dog... it teaches him to always turn around three times before lying down.

[HairOfTheDog]

This was a great old Free Republic Dog thread A tearjerker!... bring your kleenex! Lots of great dog poems!

[andysandmikesmom]

So sorry to hear of your loss, and know your heart is broken...ah, but you have a new little one to love, and surely he will not take the place of the departed one, but will hopefully ease a little, the sorrow in your heart...

My hubby and I lost have lost three of our dogs, in the 11 yrs we have lived at our current house...we have a little pet cemetary out in the back yard, beneath a big shady tree, where they used to like to lay down and rest...

My husband built each dog their own little coffin, and in that coffin they are all laid, with their favorite blankie wrapped around them...and shade loving plants are planted above each grave...

All three of our dogs died at home, surrounded by their families, as they went to sleep...they all died of old age, and thankfully I did not have to take them to the vet to be put down...they just went here at home...Dogs...God love em all...