[ SHOWGSD-L ] "And they called it puppy love"
- From: "David Fritsche" <d_fritsche@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "gsd" <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 14:28:03 -0700
>> There is no one who could convince me that our beloved GSDs do not
>> love,
>> grieve, rejoice, and experience all of the emotions that their
>> human
>> counterparts do....they are just unable to give voice to their
>> feelings.
>> Does it make them any less real? I have had the privilege of being
>> part
>> of the lives of these amazing creatures; they have included me in
>> their
>> joys and sorrows. >> Dawn Restuccia
While we all, who live with these wonderful creatures, experience
their expressions of love, proving an emotion seems as difficult as
proving the wind, or darkness or a vacuum.... I know my dogs love each
other, love me and have emotions about those relationships, but when
the critic explains that we are simply anthromorphizing our dogs,
placing our experience of life and our emotions upon them as our
explanation of what we observe, it is hard to convince them.
One way of looking at our animals and their ability to experience love
is to separate the emotion of love from the actions of love. We have
all experienced love and felt what it is like, but more importantly is
the behavior it produces. We could call it: Primary love and Secondary
love. Secondary love is when we feel inside but cannot prove. Primary
love would be the expressions of love that are obvious and measurable.
That is, love felt is inadequate! You know, "I love you very much but
I just can't remember your birthday!" Meaning: If you loved me, you'd
remember - the action. Thus social scientists talk about the
commitment of love and the actions of love as indicators of whither of
not love is present. In the book, "Love is not enough," the author
stresses that emotion, passion and statements of love are inadequate
without the evidence of action that conjoins the emotions and shows
the commitment with action.
So here's the question:
1. Has any of our dogs shown any tendency toward self sacrifice toward
us?
2. Has any of our dogs acted in a way that said our life is more
important to them than their own?
3. Has any of our dogs shown a life long commitment to us with loyalty
and fidelity of commitment?
4. Has any of our dogs shown any tendency to remember the sound of our
car, the sound of our step, the smell of our presence?
5. Has any......
and the list could go on, and maybe it should...... But the answer is
really a no-brainer!
If love can be measured in actions as evidence of the presence of love
as an emotion, than certainly the love of the dog for it's human
counterpart is vastly superior to our own and far more intense.
Your honor, the defense rests!
Dave
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