Man's Most Understanding Friend

Ruthie the Dog sustained an injury last week, involving some kind of rupture to her knee - or whatever bendy equivalent dogs have in their legs.  Ian was with me in the car when I got the call from the veterinarian, who described the whole condition to me in some detail.  He knew I was going to have to discuss the whole thing with Amy, and he had a particular request:  he didn't want the topic to be discussed in front of himself or in front of Golden the Dog.  The reason he wanted Golden to be sheltered from that kind of discussion was that he was afraid that Golden, who had clearly been miserable the whole day that Ruthie was at the vet.'s office, might be traumatized by hearing the gory details about the poor dog's leg.

I pointed out that, in order for Golden to be upset by such a conversation, he would have to be capable of comprehending human speech.  This was exactly the premise that Ian was going on.  He figured that dogs are around people all the time; there's a good chance that they have learned to understand the things that we say to each other - and not just the monosyllabic imperatives that are shouted in their own direction.

For years, Ian has accepted - and acted on - the idea that animals can understand his speech - right down to a red salamander that he caught a few years ago and lovingly released in the great outdoors with instructions to come back to the same part of the yard/driveway at the same time on the following night if he - the salamander - should wish to return to Ian's care.  I just didn't realize that now, after a decade into this beautiful adventure, he still maintains this perspective on the inner life of animals.  Which is okay with me.

(October 31, 2013)