Wisdom from poodles.

Well, from many animals, actually. There is much to learn about how best to behave, as a human, by observing how animals behave and how we humans interact with them.

In the weeks to come, this site will be updated with news from a household which includes a poodle. Don't get offended, all you owners of JackRussells, cats, borzois, etc - it's not personal. Poodles are just an example!

The wisdom comes not from the animal itself, exactly. Really, wisdom is not a word we can apply to a dog or a cat or even a poodle. It is our interaction with the animal which contains the beginnings of wisdom.

And what is wisdom? Ah, wait for tomorrow's posting ...

Lessons from the world of dogs

Ok, we all have to do things we don't like - sometimes. Not too often we hope, of course.

For example, there is the case of a well known stockbroker in Australia, recently caught doing "insider trading", which is not legal. He was sentenced to, I don't know, maybe six months "periodic detention" - not full time gaol, just weekends in the slammer. He put up a fierce defence of medical problems, hard luck stories about how going to gaol would wreck his home life, etc, etc.

Six months later, he is finally going to do the time. If he had gone to gaol when he was originally sentenced, he would be free by now. All he seems to have accomplished is to upset a whole lot of officials in the justice system - and he still has several months of periodic detention ahead of him!

Contrast that with Scuzzy's approach to things he does not want to do.

There are several that spring to mind. Being bathed is one. Being clipped (a regular occurrence in a poodle's life) is another. The clipping is probably the worst, since a clipping session can last about an hour. He is placed on a bench or table; a short lead is clipped onto his collar; and his collared neck is drawn upwards until he is forced to stand, and he stands quite still with his neck drawn upwards, until the whole ordeal is over.

Scuzzy quite obviously does not enjoy the procedure. But he submits, because he knows he must. We humans who do the clipping are bigger, stronger, and control his life to some extent - so he goes along with it.

And when the clipping is over, is he resentful to the people who have immobilised him, held him in a humiliating posture for some time, and possibly even caused him pain (the scissors do very occasionally slip and nip him). No - he bears no grudge whatever.

This is the wisdom: be aware of what you cannot control; submit to it as gracefully as possible. If you cannot change something, then you may as well go with the flow.