There are consequences of teaching our mistress important lessons in life. We were out for a walk in some very unpleasant weather. The forecasters called it dry, but frankly I can’t see the difference between water coming down out of a cloud and the cloud being right down at floor level so you are walking through the water droplets. In my book they are both wet, but I digress. Anyway, our Mistress was moaning as humans tend to do, and I thought it was time to teach her to be more like a dog and live in the moment.
I told her to start by turning off the book she was listening to. Which had an added benefit for me as I wasn’t enjoying it at all. Then I suggested she just stood still and really look around her and tell me what she could see. Then I suggested she tried sniffing the manure I’d found, but accepted that she’d prefer to smell the pollen on the air. Then I said to stop moaning about the rain and think about the feeling of it on her skin. Here she has the advantage as it’s a different sensation when you are completely covered in fur. She said it prickled like an injection rather than feeling wet like getting in the bath. I realised then there might be benefits of having fur after all. Then we listened together and heard the birds twittering. She drew the line at tasting the feathers of the dead bird as well, which frankly I thought was a mistake on her part. We noticed how much the crops had grown even compared with yesterday and how many droppings there were from the rabbits and hares. All in all it made the walk completely different and she had a lovely time under my guidance.
However, the downside of the whole experience was that at the end she decided to continue to live in the moment and went to the pub for a coffee and cake while I had to sit in the car! Lesson learned.
Aristotle
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