Same Old Thing

My dog is insistent about routines. Much more so than any dog I’ve had in the past. It’s extremely important to her that we do the same things at the same times. When it comes to a morning walk, it absolutely has to be the same route. Every time. And there’s a different route she expects for her evening stroll. If I try and get her to go in a different direction, she digs in all four or her little dog-heels and refuses to budge. She’s small and I’ve been experimenting with getting her to vary that route a little. When we come to what is ordinarily our turn-around point, I pick her up and carry her for 50 or 100 feet, and then she will walk again for a while. So I’m experimenting with acclimating her to a different walk by going a little farther every couple of days before I say the magic words, “Okay, let’s go home”. About a month ago in a wooded area nearby, there was a dead squirrel that exacted a lot of interest. The crows took care of most of the “disposal” and after many days the squirrel was not much more than a husk of its former self. Then even that started disappearing until this morning, there was nothing left but a scrap of gray fur, Yet it was imperative we stop and inspect it. I like to think we can  learn things from dogs and I wondered what I could get from this. Could it be something deep, having to do with our impermanence on the planet, perhaps? Nah. I decided it’s nothing more than dogs have an obsession with squirrels. The squirrel’s state of being is unimportant.

Photo courtesy Travis_brown at Pixabay.com