One of the things about having animals is that they react to things we don’t hear, see, feel, or notice. Often we are interrupted from some day to day activity because one of the dogs starts barking at… well.. Nothing that we notice.
Sometimes we do see the random delivery truck approaching or a neighbor walking in front of the house and we determine this is what has caused all of the uproar. We ‘talk them down’. We say, it’s just a delivery – isn’t that nice, or there goes a neighbor – let’s just wave and say hello and let them pass.
But then we find them jumping up from a nap and running to the door to bark and we go to check things out and we see absolutely nothing. No delivery, no neighbor, no stray dog or cat, or random bird. There is nothing that warrants the excitement and activity.
I think our animal communities do indeed have a sense of awareness that reaches well beyond what we as humans are capable of. They do too many wonderful life healing things to NOT be super aware of everything around them and us.
I try to honor the notifications from our fur babies. I thank them for alerting me to something I can’t see or hear and let them know I know they are there for me. I don’t have the deep listening skills that they do but I can appreciate them for what they bring.
~Lydia Patrick
