Archive for March 6th, 2005
Sunday, March 6th, 2005A Dog’s View of Work
It is possible for our dogs to teach us important concepts. For example, Caribou has taught me about the definition of work.
I watch Caribou in the yard. She walks around the fence line; she sniffs beneath the woodpile. Sometime a feral cat spends the night beneath the woodpile tarp and she catches him there early in the morning. He hisses, safe beneath the wood and she lays at the edge of the tarp and guards the opening until I call her inside and allow the ragged cat to escape the yard.
Outside once again, Caribou trees the chatty squirrels and prevents them from raiding the bird feeder. Sometimes she lays on her bed just inside the breezeway where she can watch the backyard and also keep an eye on the road. Neighbors stroll by the house, walking their dogs, and Caribou always sounds the alarm. She lets them know that this house is guarded; this house has a german shepherd on duty 24 hours a day.
As the day darkens into early evening, I bring the dogs inside and feed them. Only then does Caribou rest. She climbs atop the leather sofa; lays her big head against the armrest and falls into a deep, satisfied sleep. She is exhausted at the end of the day; and I realize that she has indeed “worked” all day long. A day of strolls around the yard, laying on the breezeway…it looks to me like a leisurely day; and yet clearly it is not what it seems.
I think about my day of work which typically consists of phone calls, note taking, driving from place to place to make patient visits, sitting in meetings. I wonder what Caribou thinks when I leave for the morning and climb into the car. She loves car rides; to her they are adventures, not work.
Caribou is a working dog; she is a trained search and rescue dog. When we respond to a callout, I say she is going to work. But, I watch Caribou on searches or in training and I see her bright eyes, her joy of the hunt. Would she say this is work? I doubt it.
Ultimately, work is defined by the individual. And perhaps the way we define it determines our joy or our unhappiness.