Understanding children instincts through our pets...

"Hi Terry, How's life?" I ask my pet dog. He looks at me without  raising his head. And without even wagging his tail. Nice snub, I think and walk away.

"You can't blame him. You didn't bother about him when he was alone  (in another yard owned by us) all those years and he had nobody to comfort him while he guarded the shed in the yard," my daughter was quick to speak up for him. That was the truth,I had to admit to myself. He used to yell painfully when any of us passed that way. But we went there only for some specific job and always had to hurry for one reason or the other. Moreover with workers moving about in a hurry it just wasn't the place for relaxing with a dog. 

For my daughter it was different. She did bother to stop and spend some time with him even though he usually ended their meeting with loud cries as if to say, 'No, don't go away. Stay with me! Talk with me. Play with me!!

Then the shed changed hands and Terry was brought to live with us. Now I get the chance to serve him his dinner everyday. He can't escape me now, I think. Dinner and bones for him  is in my hands.

 "Here Terry, Come and eat."I call out to him. He smells his food and walks away. Showing no other reaction.    

Meanwhile he follows my daughter like a slave , sits by her feet in a 'At your service, Master' posture and looks at her with eyes of pure admiration.

Along comes 'bath time' and I am  commissioned to do the job. I am afraid to touch him. I begin by telling him what a gem he is and I knew it all along and how happy I'm to have a good boy. Every breath of fear brings out a shrill 'good boy' from me like the Kabbadi players. He had seen me wash his kennel too. So I wait in expectation of a sign of forgiveness from him. I see a  smile, a wave of his tail.  A neighbour passing by asks me if he just had a bath and only then I realize that it must have been a noisy bath.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

 Then comes my nephew out of the blue and after getting introduced to Terry  arranges for his  freedom : takes him for walks, runs and games. Terry then scarcely notices my daughter and rushes past her to his new hero, licks his lips looking at him and sits at his feet, awaiting his command. All this from a breed known for its faithfulness? I wonder.

As a  parent and teacher I got thinking,'Do we see a similar behavior pattern in children too? Children giving preference to trust and freedom first of all, then kind words and last of all to their basic needs being met.Specially

to children /animals who didn't have to struggle with their basic needs being met.


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