Thanks for the shout out, Em!

 

The quote that Em has provided was from a paper called ‘The Stable Group’, which was based on regular workplace observations that I undertook at a working stable yard not far from where I live. There is no doubt in my mind that the three major mammal groups – humans, horses and dogs – were learning from one another. It was a balanced system; any hierarchical behaviour seemed to be more ‘flashpoint’ than the norm. I remember sitting on my rickety stool in the corner, hoping that I did not disturb the equilibrium.

 

This conversation in general reminds me of a footnote that I added to the final chapter of The Care Factory. The context is care and self-care in the environment of crippling bereavement anxiety, but in order to get there I took a lighthearted run-up at the subject by talking about my dog, Lola, who was a puppy at the time. Here’s the footnote:

 

“The notion of the psychoanalysis of a dog supposes that there is anything like a ‘standard’ way of thinking among our canine pals; or a set of conventions that are shared between their psychic apparatuses... One of the novels that I read while I was working on The Care Factory was Bathing the Lion by Jonathan Carroll, an author well known to be fond of dogs. While reading Bathing the Lion I came across the following: ‘While her fingers were still on their backs, Jane suddenly began to experience the world through the dogs’ brains and not her own... The world as they perceived it was very similar to the human world except for one key difference – dogs know what comes after death... This is the primary reason why most dogs are so merry and resilient: death is no more frightening than traveling to a distant land where the landscape is lushly tropical or glacially polar or simply unlike anyplace you’ve ever been. Just the smells alone...’ (Carroll, 2013, pp. 221-222). Carroll’s words are as good an analogy of psychoanalysis as any other that I have encountered. And suggesting powerfully that coincidence might be a piston in nostalgia’s engine, a mere two days after writing these words, my wife returned from a joint birthday lunch with three of her friends. Among the serious and beautiful presents that she received was a book entitled What is my dog thinking? by Gwen Bailey.”

 

Best wishes

 

David

 

 

 

What a superb question!

 

On the topic of whether dogs can be educators themselves: some years ago Andy Walsh and I edited an “anarcho-narrative unbook” – a collection of narratives and critiques around information literacy. In the introduction we noted that in one contribution (by David Mathews),

 

learning is entirely practical and extra-textual. Horses, humans, and the author-observer all experience learning as a process of becoming, of extending the identity. Even the dogs are learning to become guardians or gatekeepers: “Zack was teaching Bonnie how to fight and to bark with more aggression”.

 

Em.

 

PS The book is online and open access : )

 

 

 

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