Thought for the Day 28 July 2017

Better late than never for yesterday. I was busy with other things and, in the background, my mind turned to the topic of why dogs will often take an instant liking or disliking to particular people. “This is a trivial topic,” I hear you say. “Why would anyone think about that?”

I can think of several reasons. First I wrote, once before, about curiosity and I must admit that I am a curious person. If I go into a new place, I’ll check it out. If I see something that catches my attention, I’ll want to observe it and understand it. Second, I said my mind was working in the background, while I was busy, so it chose the topic. I didn’t consciously get involved in the decision. But more importantly, I think it’s not such a trivial topic.

Think about it this way. The dog has noticed something about the person that tells it to like or dislike. And, more often than not, the dog is right. The people they dislike have some characteristic that the dog doesn’t trust. The people they like are generally good, trustworthy people. Also, more often than not, people meeting the same person cannot make the same instant judgement as the dog. If we could we might, and probably would, make better decisions about our future interactions with the individual.

Now I’m getting to the point of why this topic is worthy of consideration. If we understand how the dog does it and learn the skill ourselves, we might instantly know, who to like or dislike, trust or not trust, get to know better or not. We could probably avoid being scammed, or not get into potentially unwise relationships, or get into really good friendships and partnerships.

Since I’m an introvert, who walks about with a paper-bag on my head, I think it would be very useful for me to know these things. At worst, I could avoid even more people and at best I might become less of an introvert. So here’s my thought for the day

“When walking your dog, and meeting people you don’t know, watch the animal’s reaction carefully. You might learn more than you could on your own!”

Have a great weekend.

Cheers,

Dave