Point of View

I wonder, does the size of the dog alter the point of view? This question popped into my head, during my most recent job, caring for a Great Dane named Zoe.

We’ve been acquainted just 2 years and I have seen her mostly in her transformative years following puppyhood. She was just over a year when we were introduced and hadn’t quite grown into the big and tall category.  But if memory serves me, she was well on her way back then.  I think she is much sturdier on those very long legs now and I compare moving her to my struggles with the grand piano in my studio at home!

She is solid, man, solid…and has as sweet a disposition as I’ve known.  Responsive, curious and o c d regarding her end of the couch.  She takes me on walks several times during each visit.  Her back yard is roomy and the edge of the forest forms the northern border of the property.  It’s fenced; that picturesque picket kind of a fence which is really more decorative than functional.  Funny, she hasn’t had reason to jump it.  I think I could give it a go (used to hurdle with grace and form in my junior high days).

Zoe is the tallest of my charges and I was curious to remember who was at the other end of the size spectrum.  You guessed it, a tea cup Chihuahua!  So small, that she could get lost in a dishpan bathtub…I’ve had every size in between the two extremes and I wish to share with you my perspective on their perspective.

Size matters! Just imagine yourself viewing the world from the floor, then still on the floor with head propped on folded arms, on up to head cupped in hands on bended elbows and continuing to all fours, seated at 90 degree angle and up and up until fully standing with head erect and focused intently on whatever is directly in front of you. Try it and study the world from the ground up. Now if you have a bird companion, the complexities of gaining their line of vision is simply a matter of physics and whether you are limber enough to alight the ceiling fans of your home. Gives you a new appreciation for the spaces and layers which define your perspective, doesn’t it?

Now consider your pet. Consider how the world is seen from its view point. Are you in tune with how information is gathered, processed and analyzed from other than your visual grid of life? Take time to study another’s sensibilities, it will change your point of view.