Dog Sense

What does a dog see when a truck goes by? In the documentary My Life as a Turkey, naturalist Joe Hutto describes turkeys as 20 million year old birds that don't have a blueprint for cars or trucks. My dog's instincts must have similar roots in a pre-wheeling era. Despite a highly refined intelligence unmistakable to all who meet him, our dog Leo is clueless about cars and trucks. There are innumerable times when, if not for a leash, he would have launched obliviously into the fray. Surely, if a herd of bison were thundering by, he would instinctively understand the risks and hold back.

Other times, especially when he has extra energy from having been cooped up in the house, his part-terrierness will interpret the low growl of a passing vehicle as a challenge that must be responded to.

This can all be considered irrational behavior, a hole in his capacity to perceive danger. But sometimes I wonder if we see the dangers of cars and trucks any more clearly. We too, as a culture, remain stubbornly blind to the profound danger these wheeled machines pose, as they pump more and more climate changing gases skyward. As the racket and the consequences continue their steady crescendo, the impulse to bark makes more and more sense.