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Show THE ZEPHYRMARCH 1994 V; : .a r !' Changing Tires i By Jack Campbell OF PROPERTY RIGHTS AND JEALOUS DOGS . My dog, Kaiyo, is a jealous dog...and 1 have just committed the anthropomorphic fallacy of attributing human emotions and behavior to an animaL Yet I think it's incredible that the pattern of a "human" emotion as complex as jealousy seems to fit so well the behavior of this critter that so welcomingly shares our house and lives. :,4 Kaiyo has the most emotionally expressive face of any dog we've seen. Oversized ears semaphore emotional states. Large brown, doe like eyes convey what is not readable from the ears. She's a lovable critter, used to being an "only child," and not accustomed to competing with anything rise for our attention. And that's what jealousy is...competition for the attention of someone you especially value (love, sexually desire, etc.) or anxiety from the fear that you may lose the attention of that special ;.T ' H , i f il person. Jealousy is one of Kaiyo's few foibles. And certainly one of the more prevalent of the human foibles. Few of us have escaped the anguish of jealousy some time in our lives. Kaiyo leads a pretty cushy life sleeping on our beds, always allowed to come on expeditions, the people of her pseudo pack around most of the time a properly entitled "single child" pet But not obnoxious in the spoiled child sense no begging or other demanding behavior, except when she's jealous. Kaiyo's first major jealousy occurred when Spunky tried to move into my house. In the middle of one January night, Kaiyo, who had been sleeping under the down sleeping bag on my bed, woke to an outside noise and ran barking out of fire house. As Kaiyo ran into the yard barking at the noises of the night, I went to the door to see what all the ruckus was about. As soon as I opened the door, a little kitten jumped through the door, dashed by my feet, surveyed the inside of the room, and went immediately to Kaiyo's food bowls. Kaiyo returned a few minutes later to find the kitten contentedly and confidently guarding its new found food The new kitten was given the name Spunky for having the temerity to come so supplies. confidently into a dog's home. Spunky took one look at Kaiyo's warm, feminine eyes and knew that she had nothing to fear in this house. Things went well for a while, and I thought we migfit be about to adopt another pet While Kaiyo was willing to share the food with Spunky, I soon found that it was quite another thing to ask Kaiyo to share my attention with Spunky. If I chose to play with or even notice the kitten, Kaiyo would give me an incredulous look which seemed to say "you really aren't going to play with that, are you?" Kaiyo managed to keep herself between me and the new little seductress as much as she could. For the first two days the new kitten stayed on the floor. But eventually there came the first time Spunky hopped up on the couch with Kaiyo and me. Kaiyo's eyes opened wide and let me j ..MfrkyvMfraMv t jCA PAGE 25 know that the kitten was getting much too close and familiar. Her eyes and ears said "you aren't going to let that little hussy up on the couch with us, are you?" Well, we survived the coudi episode and over the next few days Kaiyo was able to tolerate Spunky being on the coudi with us. But you could tell Kaiyo was having jealousy attacks whenever Spunky would get any of my attention. After all, we weren't on the couch that much of fiie time and Kaiyo still got to sleep with me on the bed. So she had me most of the time. The night Spunky tried to get up on the bed and sleep with us was just too much for Kaiyo. While she displayed no aggression towards the kitten, her jealous distress was so intense I dedded that in fairness to Kaiyo and our relationship, Spunky had to have another home. Before we could find new adoptive parents, another jealousy attack occurred when we tried to raise a baby bunny that Kaiyo had brought to us in her mouth. Kaiyo seemed to tolerate us spending time feeding and holding the bunny maybe she thought we were engaged in something productive like growing food. But then we made the mistake of coming home one day and going immediately to see how the bunny was doing, without first greeting and petting Kaiyo. This was NOT acceptable behavior. Kaiyo realized that bunny was not food for the pack, but serious competition for our attention. From then on, we couldn't do anything with the bunny, without a very threatened and jealous dog pawing around our feet trying to win back our attention. Finally the bunny succumbed to a digestive problem, and Kaiyo regained her privileged "only child" status. We now have another cat living with us. Kaiyo's jealous behavior has subsided to the point where it is now just amusing to observe. She seems to be making the change from being an "only child" to slowly accepting the presence of a sibling. Kaiyo may be sleeping in another room, but if she hears the cat purring to any of us, she's apt to get out of bed and try to get between the human and the cat, trying to make sure she's the one getting the attention. Just like so many kids we all know. Folks who live with animals have many tales of seemingly "human" behavior in their critters. Kaiyo has other somewhat human traits; jealously just seems the most conspicuous of her human-lik- e emotions. The continuum between other animals and human animals might seem clearer if we chose to say that humans have many of file animal emotions, rather than struggling with how human emotions can be present in the "lower" animals. We barely understand the simplest things about our own brains and minds. We have no techniques to find out what is going on in the brains of the animals we are closest to in our lives. We know there are many similarities between the various mammalian minds. Oops, we're not supposed to say minds, but brains. Using the word mind in reference to a brain can have uncomfortable connotations. Using the word minds begins to hint of the possibilities of consciousness. And we certainly wouldn't want to do that. Because it's very convenient for us to be able to think of all animals as thing?. We don't have to worry about how things feel or whether they suffer from any emotion, let alone a complex emotion like jealously. Things can be owned, used, killed, abused for human utility and pleasure. Things can be treated as one's property. And we all have our god given, inalienable right to do whatsoever we wish with our own property. Like before the Civil War, when black slaves were property, and the slave owner's right to own property (slaves) was protected by the Constitution. And when the slave owner was entitled to use his "less than human" property for the highest and best use, even if it meant separating the black mother from her child on the auction block and selling each to a different plantation, if that would bring the highest price. But this seems like such an extreme example, particularly since the courts of this country have not chosen to define black human beings as property for about 130 years. Obviously, Kaiyo ("my" dog) is not to be treated as a person; she's not one. On the other hand. I'm extremely uncomfortable classifying her as property when she seems to be able to experience jealousy and other emotions we've not talked about here. Using the possessive "my" can be used more in the "responsible for" sense than the ownership sense. We use the possessive this way with children. non-hum- an And in our human arrogance we treat whole species of animals as if they were property to be used and destroyed for our convenience and whim. How long will it be, before we choose to open our minds and acknowledge that some animals are more than simple "property?" sySrMftAjv HEY HALF MARATHON RUNNERS. WHAT'S THE FASTEST WAY TO THE FINISH LINE??? TAKE THE SU3WAY. --jGETIT? 74 South Main o Moab, Utah 259-S- U BS IS THAT CLEVER? OR WHAT. |