“When a dog is bitten by another dog, the dog bites back.” This the first sentence for Tolstoy’s January 11th “Wise Thoughts for Every Day.”
Poppy is typically an easy-going Alfa female. She loves most other dogs, although she does show an extreme dislike for a few dogs that walk by our house. Although they look innocuous to me (a pitbull cross and a German shepherd), not so much to her. The moment they come into view, her hackles rise and she’s in attack mode. She barks and whines, and I know if I let her out she’d charge them even though she’s never met them face-to-face.
My dog-park neighbors and I have talked about how some dogs seem to have a strong negative presence, and other dogs pick up on that energy. Even when I try and placate her, she continues to display agitation. But when other new dogs walk by, sometimes she simply wags her tail and whines in eagerness to meet them.
Tolstoy talks about judgment today and how “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life” isn’t human law but made by animals.
I firmly believe that giving people the benefit of the doubt and prefer not to judge so quickly. Some people have an uncanny inner sense and can tell if a person is good or evil with a five-minute conversation. That’s not me. But, as a close friend says, “Most people are generally bad, and you would do well to remember that.”
Maybe that’s true. Maybe I should take some lessons from Poppy and my friend. When Poppy does “bite back,” maybe there is a good reason. But for now, I’ll continue to not rush to judgment but perhaps shorten my timeline a bit from a 10-minute conversation to nine minutes.