Yea, I trained my dogs, but sometimes they teach me a thing or two. My German Shepherds, get sassy, ready to spar, ready to run, as soon as I turn the hose on to give them a bath. I have to separate them or they’ll mix-it-up and I’ll never get my job done. I think it’s the cool water. It gives them more energy. (Perhaps I should learn from the dogs.) I thought it was just one of those irritating things that dogs do. But then, I came across a story that described some fascinating aspects about a dog-sled team.
I’ve been reading the account of a Christian missionary and his dog sled team, in the 1860’s in Northern Canada. He described how the waterways freeze three feet deep, but sometimes fissures would form — a few inches wide or even a few feet wide — and then break open where the water would rush up and freeze-over quickly, creating a weakened spot in the ice — a danger for dog sledding. He explained an event when,
They were traversing a frozen waterway when the ice broke in one of those freshly frozen fissures. The middle dog, a St. Bernard named “Jack” fell up to his collar into the icy water. The two lead dogs kept pulling the sled and helped rescue their teammate. Jack’s fur had a layer of ice on it immediately. But he seemed to know his danger and ran faster and faster, almost dragging the other two dogs to the shoreline, 12 miles ahead. They arrived in an hour. That dog had the instinct to run to keep warm and not freeze to death. He survived. He lived. The missionary built a fire, set out a buffalo skin, placed his champion St. Bernard on it, who warmed up and revived completely. (By Canoe and by Dog Train, by Egerton Ryerson Young)
Dogs are amazing. We can learn from the dogs — Run harder and faster when under duress, or run faster when your life depends on it — work as a team. But really, does cold water trigger an instinct in dogs to run and become more active? Perhaps that’s why my dogs become more active after a bath. It’s a natural instinct to survive. We need to tune in to our instincts – inspiration – promptings — unless of course that means digging through the garbage like a dog.
Updated, originally posted Feb 4, 2014.
