31 May

Preface: I like dogs. But I think the reason they're so enormously popular is one not often spoken about. I was thinking about it while watching Get Back, the Beatles film. The band were fighting, on the point of breaking up. Then they let Billy Preston join the sessions. Instant, total transformation. Everybody happy and productive again. The established social unit, the band, was dysfunctional. But introduce an outsider, and things flowed again, for a while anyway. This is what I think dogs do. Look at that family gathered around the dog. The dog becomes the glue that holds the unit together, independent of the interpersonal dynamics the humans have between themselves. Dog owners soooo often say how much they prefer dogs to humans. They let the cat (ha) out of the bag. In reality the slobbering adoration dogs give to humans, which would repel them if it was another human, is likely hierarchical deference more than love and affection. The unquestioning love and loyalty, again something they can never get from another human. Working for local government now, I'm struck by just how much social trouble *outside* the family unit dogs cause. The barking, in particular, but also attacks on non-family members. All part of the same pack behaviour, which we probably mistake for love and affection. Don't get me wrong, I think they are lovely animals. But that we project onto them things that aren't real, and use them to help manage our human interactions.