Thursday, March 18, 2010

Doggy origins


Don't eat my baby!



Interesting article in the NYTime about the origins of dogs.
Humans lived as roaming hunters and gatherers for most of their existence. Dr. Wayne believes that wolves began following hunter-gatherer bands to feed on the wounded prey, carcasses or other refuse. At some stage a group of wolves, who happened to be smaller and less threatening than most, developed a dependency on human groups, and may in return have provided a warning system.

I know why people started hanging around with dogs - look at the cute faces on those dingoes!

I always find it annoying the way people are divided into dog people and cat people. Why can't you like both? I love my two cats but I also loved my dog Cookie when I was a kid. My parents were going to give her away at one point for barking too much after we moved to a smaller house in NJ and I ran away from home with her for a day in protest. We had adventures, including putting out a forest fire. But when it started to get dark and Cookie was getting hungry (I forgot to take money with me) we had to go home. My parents changed their mind and we kept her after all.

Apartment life is not easy on dogs though, so I have cats. My ex-boyfriend loves cats too but growing up his dog Emily was his best friend. I wrote a monologue about that relationship - Nick Fondulis performs it on youtube here.

Anyway, dogs and cats are not that different. Especially Siamese cats, which are very dog-like - my Siamese cat Mr. Fuzz (his real name is Spike but I never call him that) follows me around the house and he has to play fetch with his mousies every day. Unfortunately, after we fetch he has to roll the (real fur) mousie in his bowl of cat food and then eat the fur off the plastic shape that it's glued onto. I worry alot about his digestive system, but he's been doing this for years now with no apparent ill effects - except on my wallet - those real fur mousies are not cheap.