on being part sheep, part wolf
from my recent newsletter: loving an animal. more luna diaries here.
I was asking myself the question of: why do we train dogs to obey -- but not cats? cats can be agents of chaos, but dogs -- dogs can be scary, aggressive, and dangerous. people are afraid of dogs (I've seen the looks on their faces). dogs chase after things. they intimidate, and posture. they sniff everything, poop everywhere. they bark, and have sharp teeth.
"does she bite?" is the most common question I hear from strangers, which translates to: "I'm about to pet her, but just in case..."
at home, Luna is calm and quiet -- as long as you don't leave her alone. in some sweet moments, she looks like a sheep. I dream of letting Luna run with a flock of sheep through open pastures, or at least, to nap amongst them.
one key difference is: she has a prey/chase instinct. and when she gets excited -- by balls, or waves, or in reuniting after a few hours away -- she bark-howls, a few woo-woos. the first time she was home alone (for barely an hour), she cried long howls, like a lone wolf.
during the last week of our roadtrip, somewhere in the forested mountains in eastern Turkey, a man was walking with his pet sheep, and we crossed paths with him. here's a snapshot of their encounter; each creature, curious about the other's uncanny resemblance.
