Born to Bark (46 page)

“Oh yes,” I say. “Flint taught me how to watch dogs, how to begin the process of understanding what goes on inside of a dog’s mind, and how to go about trying to train them. But more than that he had a unique and irrepressible personality. If we would have erected a marker over his grave it would have read

Born a dog.
Lived like a lion.
Died a gentleman.

At that moment two of our grandchildren who are visiting the farm appear behind us. Cora is carrying a red plastic bumper on a string, and Matty, a red ball. The dogs start to dance in anticipation. They will chase these toys when the kids throw them, but they won’t chase the wildlife. They are not terriers. They are also not royal spaniels who would rather rest beside you than engage in anything as mundane as retrieving.

Each dog is different. Each has two minds, one that belongs to his breed and another that makes him different from every other dog that has ever lived. The sad part is that none of my dogs has stayed around long enough for me to fully understand them, despite all of my psychological training. God gives us dogs to be our companions but demands them back after our short lease on their lives expires.

I watch the kids romping around with the dogs. From the corner of my eye I see Joannie standing at the back door of the house watching the children play with the dogs. She gives that little half smile that I fell in love with so many years ago.

I am missing Flint at that moment, remembering how he used to play with Benn and Rebecca, and wondering how he would respond to Cora and Matty. I feel myself drifting into a blue funk, but as usual I am saved by the tinkling laughter of the children and the excited barking of the dogs. I am also comforted by a remembrance of something
that Sir Walter Scott, the author of
Ivanhoe
and other classic novels, once wrote:

I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race: for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to live double that time?

Stanley Coren, PhD, FRSC,
is a professor emeritus in the psychology department at the University of British C
olumbia and a recognized expert on dog-human interaction. For his contributions to psychological science he was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has appeared on many television shows, including
Oprah, Good Morning America, CBS Morning Show, Dateline
and
Larry King
. He has hosted the TV show
Good Dog!
which was nationally broadcasted in Canada, and he currently appears on
Pet Central
on the Pet Network. He has also been given the
Dog Writer of the Year
award by the International Positive Dog T
raining Association. He lives in Vancouver with his wife Joan, and is active in fund-raising efforts for various humane societ
ies.