Heroic Dogs

I have a tendency to anthropomorphise animals, especially dogs and cats.  I attribute love and vengeance and others emotions to them.  I even attribute kinds of human reasoning to them.  I am often told, however, that their tiny little brains don’t work that way, that they don’t really have minds like people do.  I’m even told that they don’t have souls.  My response:  Maybe we humans are not as smart as we think we are and maybe, just maybe, we don’t know everything about our animal brothers.

Some dogs, for instance, are heroes:

Jake was a 12 year old Labrador retriever who recently died of cancer; he was a U.S. government-certified rescue dog.  He helped sort through the rubble and rescue survivors (and find remains) in New York on 9/11 and in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina.  He was also an instructor and helped train other rescue dogs.  Good boy.

Zoey is just little dog, but has a huge heart.  When a rattlesnake lunged at her owner’s one year old grandson, she jumped in the way and let the snake bite her instead.  She had a rough time, but, luckily, she survived.  Good girl.

Some may say that these dogs only responded out of training and instinct.  I say that there may be more going on behind those sweet, beautiful eyes than we know about.