For the Love of Dog
I was interested in the idea of “universal values” and began looking at examples around the world that show this special connection. One thing that to me seems fairly universal is the special bond formed between humans and dogs. I was especially interested in how this bond materialized in different contexts.
I found three examples from different parts of the world and from different eras that I would like to highlight. One is a local news story, one is a local legend and the other is a prehistoric discovery.
All for the love of dog.
A news story is what really got me thinking about this topic. Margarita Suarez lived in Merida, Mexico, when she died this last March. Her funeral was “attended” by a pack of stray dogs. Margarita made it a point to feed and care for the stray dogs by her home. It seemed like the dogs wanted to come and pay their respects.
The only caveat to this story is that Margarita’s funeral was hundreds of miles away in Cuernavaca Morelos, and thus it is unlikely that the dogs at the funeral were the dogs she helped. What is not up for debate is that a pack of stray dogs uncharacteristically went to and stayed for the funeral of a woman who had a lifelong reputation of caring for stray dogs.
This story was widely reported throughout the world, and obviously hit close to home for many. When searching this story, the first link to come up was from an American news agency, the second was a British newspaper. This, for a minor event that occurred in Mexico.
Thinking about the loyalty of dogs, I remembered a wonderful little legend from Puerto Rico between a man and his dog. The legend is hundreds of years old, and the story is set about 400 years ago (if not a bit earlier):
A Spanish soldier named Enrique, stationed in San Juan, Puerto Rico one day found a stray dog, which he named “Amigo (Spanish for “friend”). The two quickly became best of friends and inseparable. After some time, Enrique got his battle orders and was shipped out with his comrades. As he left, he promised Amigo he would come back for him. As Enrique’s ship pulled out of the harbor, Amigo swam to a rock outcropping and watched his best friend sail away.
Every day Amigo swam out to the rocks and watched for his master. Tragically, Enrique died when his ship sank in battle. Word of Enrique’s death came back to the island, but Amigo never wavered. Amigo, ever faithful, waited day and night on the rocks for his friend and as he waited his body turned to stone. He is still there on the rocks waiting for his master to come home. Amigo is still there today for everyone to see, still patiently waiting on the rocks:
(Source: http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/unusual-osj-sights/)
The connection between man and dog has been theorized to be about 10,000 years old. But new evidence has brought up the possibility that that connection is much much older than that.
In the Chauvet Cave in France over 30,000 years ago, the local people created some of the most impressive prehistoric cave paintings that have survived to this day. One of the other things discovered in this cave are two particular sets of footprints. The footprints are of a roughly eight year old boy and that of a wolf. At first, it was thought that the wolf was stalking the child. But the footprints show that both were walking at at a steady pace, and it appears that the two were actually next to each other, walking the cave together.
The story that results is powerful in its simplicity and timelessness:
A curious eight year old boy wanted to see the pretty pictures that the adults had created on the cave walls. With him, he brought his wolf-dog. They two companions together slowly make their way through the cave, the boy’s right arm holding a torch, his left on the the wolf-dog’s back as they walk deeper into the cave to see the the pictures.
(Source: http://ancientpathwaystoasustainablefuture.org/1huntergatherers/tracking/the-tracks-in-chauvet-cave/)
There’s something timeless, powerful, and evocative about our connection with dogs. While it is true in some cultures dog might be found on menus, as world cultures begin to bleed into each other, dogs as companions seems to be one of the first things to begin to seem like a true universal value. To wit, in these same cultures where dog is considered a food, the popularity of these dishes is at an all-time low. But again, even in these same cultures, dogs have also historically been seen as guardians and companions.
While it is not hard to see examples of people loving dogs, these are wonderful examples across both geography and time of dogs loving people. Which is, to my view, one of the greatest achievements of mankind: to be worthy of the love of dog.
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