Myths and legends

It's October 11 and today, according to the crazy calendar, it is Myths and Legends Day.  Now there are a LOT of ways to look at this day, so let's start with just a FEW common dog myths:

•   A dog who is wagging his tail is happy.  NOT always.   You need to look at the WHOLE dog.  Not just his tail.  For example, if we are wagging slowly, or if we are wagging but the rest of our body appears tense or stiff, we may be feeling uncomfortable.  Wagging with our tail down may indicate submission.  Or anxiety.  Which can be seen after humans utter those ridiculous words: "What did you do?"

•   All big dogs or banned breeds have a greater likelihood of being aggressive. Wrongo.  It's generally not the BREED that is aggressive, but the HUMAN who raised that breed.   And while it's true that little dogs don't inflict the level of damage that a large dog can, ANY dog CAN be aggressive under the right circumstances.  Again - this usually goes back to the human who they own. We dogs in this house are NOT aggressive.  Crazy - maybe.  But never aggressive.

•   Dogs are colorblind.  True, we dogs don't have vision that includes seeing the same range of colors that humans have - BUT we don't see in black and white either.  We see in shades of green, blues, yellows and grays.  So don't try outfitting me with that ugly blue plaid raincoat.  I KNOW it's not attractive.  I can SEE it.

•  You can't teach an old dog new tricks.  While we canines like to use this as an excuse - the reality is that IF the treats are good enough - we CAN learn new things.  Admittedly, some old dogs may not be able to see or hear as well - so it could be harder or slower to learn - but never say never!  There's still hope for us yet! 

Now in the category of mythological dogs and legends, I found a mythological canine for almost every letter of the alphabet.   And so many countries/cultures have stories about mythological dogs and lots of them are downright spooky.  Half-man- half-dog beasts,  ghost dogs, devil dogs, blood sucking dogs, two headed dogs - it was hard to find a happy dog from mythology!  One I found was Gytrash a legendary black dog from Northern England.  It seems lots of countries have "black dog" myths and legends.  Apparently Gytrash will meet strangers on lonely dark roads - and in some cases will be helpful and will lead them to the right road.  On the OTHER hand, Gytrash may be not so nice, and lead them astray.  Typical dog to me - sometimes we are good, and sometimes not so much!

If you look on Wikipedia for Mythological Dogs, you will find all kinds of dogs in mythology.  And this article is a summary of some of the stories.

https://www.thoughtco.com/dog-folklore-and-legends-2562493

We have our own myths in our house.  For example, it is a myth that we always countersurf when my human is not in the room.  Trust me - we don't bother if we don't smell food. 

But the BIGGEST myth in my mind is that humans train DOGS.  It is very much the OTHER way around.  From the time of our adorable little puppy looks and our sweet smelling puppy breath, we begin our work - and we ALLOW you to think that YOU are training US.  But WE train YOU. And OUR training goes on for our entire lifetime!   And then the story of our life, after we are gone,  becomes legend.  Every single one of us...

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!