When we first got
married we lived in a small caravan, to live together was more important than
the conditions we lived in. It was a very simple caravan with fairly basic
toilet amenities the toilet was an Elsan (an oil drum with a plastic seat on
the upper end filled with an antiseptic solution) which was hidden behind a
screen in the kitchen. It was quite possible to see round the screen if you so
wished, which we didn’t. But Andy our Labrador/gundog did. He would poke his
head round the screen and study our posture on this contraption. After the
initial embarrassment we got used to his habit, after all he was only a dog.
The Caravan Site
when it was built must have looked quite good. It had flower containers lining
a hard surfaced road with the vans standing back off it. The flowers in the
pots were long gone leaving these up ended drain pipes full of soil and
precious little else still lining the road. Andy would cock his leg up on
anything, outside I hasten to add, but when it came to the more serious
business he would balance in the squat position on one of these flower pots and
evacuate himself.
It could be
coincidence of course or was he really trying to emulate us? It certainly
couldn’t have been comfortable for him balancing on an upturned drain pipe. No
one taught him to do it but somehow if there was anything that resembled our
Elsan at a convenient height for him he would use it. I’ve often wondered why
he did it, was he really trying to be human? If it was it was the only human
trait he showed, the rest of his life was all dog and yet in a space of 7’6” by
22’ he must have witnessed virtually all our life. He never tried to sit at the
table for example and yet it would have been easy for him to physically do it,
if we’d allowed it, not that we would or did he ever try. It is still years
later a puzzle and I often wonder if there are any other cases of dogs taking
on human ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment