The higher consciousness of dogs

Maya remains in hospital but appears to be making good progress. The vet said this morning that she greeted him standing and walking even on the bad leg! But we were warned to be cautious because things can go well and then not so well. They are still debriding the wound of dead flesh. I won't share the photo of her leg the vet sent me on Saturday. It's ghastly.

What I will share is what a friend, mentor and former teacher of mine wrote to me upon hearing of Maya's accident:

Very sorry to hear of the suffering of your dog. My friend in Nebraska had a dog who lost her hind leg in a similar accident and she still had a happy, joyous life. The great character trait of a good dog is they have no self pity or entitlement issues. They tend be be very "Buddhist" in their outlook. In fact, David R. Hawkins says that dogs when they are wagging their tales with enthusiasm generally register at a consciousness level over 500—that is at unconditional love. This why good dogs are inherently therapeutic.
     You guys can look forward to many, pleasant, refreshing, joyous times together on your zen walks together, sharing one of the great gifts that you can give each other. Remember, there is redemptive value in all suffering. What matters, is the level of consciousness we bring to it.

My friend knows and admires Hawkins http://www.veritaspub.com/index.php?page=about. As an aside, I've been promising him for three or four years now that I'd read some of Hawkins' work, and this so intrigued me I ordered one of his books yesterday. I'm not sure what that says about me. Am I aspiring to the consciousness level of my dog? I'm sure Meche would tell me that's a good idea as it beats my usual level: that of Snow White's little friend Grumpy!

The entitlement my friend talks about above, by the way, isn't the same as the feeling of entitled mentioned a few blogs back. I think my friend means that dogs don't feel they're owed something from life, the way many people do. The term used in training refers to the pack structure, where the higher-ranking dog is entitled to unclaimed food, things or resting places over lower ranking dogs, but even the higher ranking dog knows his or her place if there's other dogs above it in the pack.

I was very aware of missing Maya on my run today, my first time out since her accident. I went on the carriage roads on the old estate, where I took Maya running a few weeks ago after setting my Lenten goal of losing weight and getting back into running. We ran three or four miles that day, if I remember correctly, and various similar runs since then. Last week we did a five-mile run up on the mountain. Today I did six, which puts me back at my normal run when I'm into it. Last time I did that was a year and a half ago, before going to China. It's tough pushing this fattening old butt out to run again, but all the walking with Maya over the past year made it a lot easier. If she can keep her leg it's going to be months before we're doing this again. If we have to adapt to some limitations, then that too.