The issue of how we, definitely including me, see through the filters of my/our conditioned mind. I recently got a good reality check of my own on that. I don’t know if there is a way to bypass this filtering. All I can do, to try to remember, is that any judgment is a warning sign to hold my conclusion loosely as a kind of provisional assessment which, if I can further remember, has usually been somewhat to totally inaccurate.This remembering will be more likely if there was the emotional component of remorse. LOL. If I can remember Suzuki Roshi’s ‘beginners mind' - begin again. Maybe someday I’ll know that I can know nothing,the culmination of life according to Tolstoy
I've never lived with a dog myself, but have many times been humbled by my cats when I think I know what they need. My error is usually on the side of trying too hard. It is fair to wonder, however, if the care and effort to protect and support are exactly what brings you both to the moment when your animal can take over and manage their own affairs. You and your son were so respectfully protective and generous to Trixie that she need not be challenged by other dogs. When the moment arrived that she had to face that challenge, with the two of you standing right there, she could find her ground and assess the situation accurately. I think you two did all the prep work to support that moment, and Trixie came through with flying colors.
Utterly epic, Rick, in its insight, wit and expansive thoughtfulness. And, yeah, we've all got our dog and understand it perfectly, unlike those others. And what will it take, what dark night of whose soul, to teach them to understand it our way?
Now, more humbly, I see that "epic" and "wit" don't really fit together. Also, I was taut that that isn't how you spell "taught."
I’ve always taken the stance of the beer drinking man with dog interactions. I’ve found it’s almost universally the human that messes up dog meetings.
Another fetching story.
The issue of how we, definitely including me, see through the filters of my/our conditioned mind. I recently got a good reality check of my own on that. I don’t know if there is a way to bypass this filtering. All I can do, to try to remember, is that any judgment is a warning sign to hold my conclusion loosely as a kind of provisional assessment which, if I can further remember, has usually been somewhat to totally inaccurate.This remembering will be more likely if there was the emotional component of remorse. LOL. If I can remember Suzuki Roshi’s ‘beginners mind' - begin again. Maybe someday I’ll know that I can know nothing,the culmination of life according to Tolstoy
I've never lived with a dog myself, but have many times been humbled by my cats when I think I know what they need. My error is usually on the side of trying too hard. It is fair to wonder, however, if the care and effort to protect and support are exactly what brings you both to the moment when your animal can take over and manage their own affairs. You and your son were so respectfully protective and generous to Trixie that she need not be challenged by other dogs. When the moment arrived that she had to face that challenge, with the two of you standing right there, she could find her ground and assess the situation accurately. I think you two did all the prep work to support that moment, and Trixie came through with flying colors.
Utterly epic, Rick, in its insight, wit and expansive thoughtfulness. And, yeah, we've all got our dog and understand it perfectly, unlike those others. And what will it take, what dark night of whose soul, to teach them to understand it our way?
Now, more humbly, I see that "epic" and "wit" don't really fit together. Also, I was taut that that isn't how you spell "taught."