Who Sings Now? IV: Last of the Canine Teachers (Cross Breeds)

Member Name: QuinnElaine

Product:	Cross Breeds
Date:	03/05/09 (129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: wisdom

Disadvantages: some times gaining wisdom is painful

As a sunset, it fades and another voice lifts
like an oboe's sweet tones,
this Teacher's voice drifts...

"Protection, Service and Loyalty!
My songs are as varied as my breed.
Beloved by Divine, humble, and royalty...
My great heart and spirit your love will feed,
Yet nothing
twixt Truth and Self
should intercede!"

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This four part poem can be found in it's complete form under the first Teacher discussed, Wolves. Yes, this is another Bloody Long read! Take it in parts, give it a miss, or take it all in as you please. You've been notified. :) Wishing you Laughter
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"To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace." - Milan Kundera

"I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren't certain we knew better. They fight for honor at the first challenge, make love with no moral restraint, and they do not for all their marvelous instincts appear to know about death. Being such wonderfully uncomplicated beings, they need us to do their worrying." ~ George Bird Evans

"Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog. Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement." - Snoopy

Dogs are as many and varied as Man, but have been more often glorified in story, literature, poetry, song and film than possibly any other animal other than the horse... and justly so! Consider for a moment the wealth of dogs made famous by literature, song, film, and television. Rin-Tin Tin, Lassie, Nana from Peter Pan, Mickey's Pluto, the heroic Underdog and his lovely Polly from the Underdog cartoons, Toto from Wizard of Oz, Scooby-Doo, the much beloved Snoopy from the Peanuts cartoon, Prince Llwellyn's faithful Beth Gelert, Dodie Smith's brave Pongo and Missus from 101 Dalmations, Diane Duane's superlative Ponch from A Wizard Alone and A Wizard at War, White Fang, Benji, clever and comical Gromit, Ol' Yeller, Stanley Ipkiss' dog Milo from The Mask, Odie, Verdell from As Good As It Gets, Orphan Annie's Sandy, Astro from the Jetsons' cartoon, Lady and Tramp, and even Frank the alien pug in Men in Black give us a broad view of this marvelous Creature Teacher, yet this list could have gone on a lot farther!

Some exemplify strengths, others demonstrate canine foolishness, and although each fictional Dog has a character all its own, together one can see the traits that make Dog so beloved by humans. Loyalty, generous hearts, honesty, familial devotion and harmony, friendship, cleverness, courage, selflessness, and keen senses used to achieve goals, and protection of loved ones, especially children.


"Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted." ~ Paul Pearshall

"There's facts about dogs, and then there's opinions about them. The dogs have the facts, and the humans have the opinions. If you want the facts about the dog, always get them straight from the dog. If you want opinions, get them from humans." ~ J. Allen Boone, Kinship With All Life


When drawn to Dog, one should examine as many breeds and relations as possible as there are approximately 400 recognized breeds worldwide. Some were bred to hunt, some to defend owners from other dogs, to pull carts, to retrieve game, to pull carts, or even to extract small burrowing mammals from their dens. The lessons held by a Jack Russell terrier are unlikely to be the same as those held by an English Mastiff.

Looking at a specific breed can certainly give you clues to how you personally connect to this Creature Teacher. Dogs as whole should be examined by anyone who feels called by any of the Canine Teachers, which leads inextricably back to their wild cousins; wolves, dingoes, coyotes, jackals, foxes, and hyenas. Canines, except for the cunning Fox, run in packs, after all, and the importance of family should never be discounted by any of the Canines.

"A Pekingese is not a pet dog; he is an undersized lion." ~ A. A. Milne

"Things that upset a terrier may pass virtually unnoticed by a Great Dane." ~ Smiley Blanton

"Our dogs will love and admire the meanest of us, and feed our colossal vanity with their uncritical homage." ~Agnes Repplier

"From the dog's point of view, his master is an elongated and abnormally cunning dog." ~Mabel Louise Robinson


It was easiest for me to come to know Dog as a Teacher as a domesticated "mixed breed", or put more simply, a healthy mutt who combines qualities and lessons from all of the Canines; a meeting between the wilder ways of Wolf, Coyote, and Fox and "domesticated" life in all of its doggy variety. All Dogs, for example, are pretty clear about what they do and do not like. Basically honest creatures, Dogs will growl at and follow suspiciously anyone they do not like or trust, hide when they are scared, leap for joy at the sight of their leash in their humans' hand, turn up their noses at food they don't like with utter disdain, and eagerly await a treat with obvious, oft times drooling or prancing, anticipation.

Generally, you know where you stand with a Dog right up front. Dogs also prefer to convey and respond to such social stimuli without a major fuss; to establish pack order with as little actually fighting as possible. Yet, when we as dog-owners are training our pups to behave properly, we don't always pick up on or understand the signals they are sending us. This is when trouble starts. Dog people too need to understand and be aware of the signals they are both sending and receiving. If we are continuously missing or miss-interpreting signals in either direction, we can become like the confused and fearful dog backed into a corner. Aggression or excessively submissive behavior are also clues to the Dog person that they are not in a balanced state.

"Dogs communicate through energy, you display leadership by projecting calm, assertive energy"

"Your dog needs exercise, discipline, and affection in that order"

"Your dog needs you need to understand what it means to be a dog" ~ Cesar Milan

Dogs appreciate the good things in life though. Family, cuddles, food, work, sex, sleep, play, even just an interesting scent... Dogs tend to throw themselves into whatever they are doing whole-heartedly, with complete abandon and unashamed enjoyment. Well balanced Dog people are very similar to well balanced dogs, whatever the breed. I have found that, like our furry friends, Dog people tend to prefer affection over discipline or exercise, but our need for a balance in our lives of all three of these ingredients is just as vital for the two-legged Dog as it is for the four-legged ones.

Walking is important to Dog people too. There is something elemental in our need to walk. It allows us time to clear our minds, to take in the world around us in an interactive, positive and sensual way.

"We have to use exercise, discipline and affection every day. Most of the time people share affection, affection, affection, and that creates frustration. In a powerful breed, that's going to lead him into aggression. So exercise and discipline play a big role in balance." ~Cesar Milan

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion" ~ Unknown

"Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made." ~Roger Caras

"A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not." ~Author Unknown

Dog people need to be aware on many levels. What aspects of our doggy natures are we encouraging? Pay particular attention to the main rules of a good life... Be Honest, with yourself and others. Be Aware. Avoid Extremes. Knowledge begins with Awareness, and Peace begins with Balance. Follow the rule of three (as in, three strikes and you're out). To all Wolves, it is the Pack that takes precedence over any other consideration. Dogs, while more loosely knit, are very similar in structure. I think Dog people struggle with finding a good balance in this Pack aspect of their lives more than Wolf people tend to, perhaps it is simply a side effect of domestication. Like Wolves though, Dog People need to look within and around them with clear eyes, to be good pack members. Know yourself, both flaws and strengths, while working to eliminate weaknesses and improve your strengths.

Likewise, know those you consider "pack mates". In a successful pack, everyone knows their place and can rely on the others to do their part. This has become a gray area to a lot of domesticated dogs simply because we have taken them out of their natural pack environment and have, usually, not given them any solid structure to replace it. Dog people suffer from the same problem. All too often we dog owners coddle or humanize our pets when we need to be leading them in a calm and confident manner.

A true Alpha, whether Wolf, Dog, or Human, does not lead because he/she is stronger, fiercer, bigger, louder, or better at throwing their weight around. A true Alpha leads by consensus of the pack because, in their eyes the Alpha exemplifies all that the pack strives for and has all the qualities needed to bring success to the pack. A leader is born, not made, and the best man for the job is usually the one who doesn't want it! This is what makes balanced and aware Dog people such wonderful leaders and great Teachers. For every Dog will have his day, and like Wolf, should know that someday they may have to lead the pack.

Perhaps it is important to note here the seeming animosity between wolves and their domesticated cousins. Wolves will attack dogs, and people do like to speculate why. Ultimately I think it comes down to two factors; dogs are competition much like cheetahs are to lions in the wild, and dogs never mature in their behavior like wolves do. Dogs behave very much like juvenile wolves even when they are quite elderly, which makes perfect sense when you realize that all domesticated dogs were bred to be less independent and aggressive than their wild cousins. To the wolf though, dogs must seem like dangerous and spoiled teenagers who have taken up with their greatest predator, humans. Lest we forget, many breeds of dog were raised specifically to hunt and protect their masters from their own wild relations.

This could be interpreted in many ways when looking at Creature Teachers. People who are more Wolf than Dog might fall into the trap of thinking of themselves as more "mature" or superior. People who are more drawn to Dog than Wolf might find the Wolf people they encounter to be too aggressive, arrogant, aloof, or threatening. The balanced individual might realize that the only true conflict lies within themselves. We are all dogs with the potential to become wolves again if we would only stop treating each other as competition, or easily understood and labeled beings.

If you feel called by a specific canine Teacher you will most likely still exhibit traits and experience lessons from all of the Canines throughout your life. This poem was the first in all of the series to combine four related Teachers because when I sat down to write about them they refused to be written as separate poems! The inspiration and words would simply fall silent when I considered them as separate Teachers. Together, they became a mystically howling chorus that sent shivers up and down my spine.

To me, All My Relations means that we actively look for, acknowledge, respect and are grateful for our eternal spiritual connection to everything else in the Universe around us. It can be challenging to see yourself in a stone, or believe without hesitation that you are being offered a deeply spiritual lesson by a blade of grass. In our society today we do not consider the fate of a tree as important as having a place to shop located conveniently. We destroy the natural balance of a location without thinking of the lasting consequences to us all, and usually for the most inane reasons. Even those who are consciously working on their spiritual development though can become confused by the labels we place on things, the lines we draw between one concept and another, or even the metaphorical tasty bone! These Teachers remind me that the closer the Relations the more the lines blur within us until Unity is found. The Canine Teachers would like us to learn the sense of universal brotherhood that they share rather than ruthlessly treating everyone and everything around us as competition to be eliminated.

We should each be striving simply to be worthy, whatever our social position may be. We should also be looking for the natural leaders within our children. A Native American Elder once said that to find our leaders, we need only watch our children. Encourage those that the other children turn to for leadership, and give extra guidance to those that seem to struggle. This has always made perfect sense to me. Together, these Teachers sing a song of such loving familial devotion and tender respect for learning expressed through their care of the young that I've stopped wondering to myself if it's a "Dog" or "Fox" or "Wolf" lesson.

This Pack Wisdom was simply given as a gift from one Relation to another; neither one of us being greater than the other on the Wheel of Life, but All of us being vital in reaching and maintaining a harmonious Life together. There are many obstacles between parents and children rife in society today, whether self-imposed, circumstantial, or societal. This unbalanced aspect of society is one more contributing factor to our disassociation with Nature and general disharmony with the Universe around us. Reaching out to the children in our society by taking them out into Nature to play and learn is the first step towards teaching our society a loving respect for Nature. However whether we are 2 or 92, it is never too late to realize our Unity with the Universe.

"It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever." ~Jimmy Carter

As an adult, Loyalty is a vital issue for Dogs, and shouldn't be given blindly. Don't give your trust or loyalty where it hasn't been earned. This means actually earned, not just given because you love someone, or enjoy their company. We are often all too willing to overlook some poor choices or bad behavior in those we love or like. This is, perhaps, even more important to Dogs than it is to the wilder Wolf, as dogs are very devoted creatures. Much to the shame of mankind, our canine companions have been known to overlook terrible abuse for just the hope of a kind word, a scrap of food, or a single moment of affection from the people in their lives. Love is indeed a powerful and divine gift in life, but even something good can become bad when we allow it to go to extremes.

Love freely given without suffering from abuse is a truly wondrous thing, and it is easy to see how we can become utterly bewitched by the search for Love. Someone once said, "Flattery looks like friendship, just like a wolf looks like a dog". Follow the rule of three... as in three strikes and they're out! Keep in mind too, just because someone was, for lack of a better term, unworthy of your love or loyalty, doesn't mean that you shouldn't wish them well and continue to feel that swell of love and concern that should, rightly, be extended to everyone and everything we encounter. Why miss another opportunity to spread something as wonderful, rare and uplifting as Love, even if you don't interact with them any more? The trick is to not allow our sense of sorrow or pity mislead us, like the treacherous Will o' Wisp, over a lethal cliff!

"Every human has four endowments: self-awareness, conscience, independent will, and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... the power to choose, to respond, to change." ~Stephen R. Covey

"Power comes not from the barrel of a gun, but from one's awareness of his or her own cultural strength, and the unlimited capacity to empathize with, feel for, care, and love one's brothers and sisters." ~Addison Gayle Jr.

"The world is not a problem; the problem is your unawareness." ~Bunty Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh


Awareness, love, forgiveness, and loyalty, like most things in Life, should start with the Self though. If you cannot give yourself the same consideration that you would extend to someone else, then something is seriously out of balance. "To thine own self be true.", or put more accurately by the wise and witty Eleanor Roosevelt, "Do what you know in your heart to be right, for you will be criticized anyway." Either could easily be Dog mottoes. In essence, we should not allow the poor choices of others to lead us away from what we know, in the core of our being, is the better path.

Dogs tend to be curious and stubborn creatures too, even when they meet with less than enthusiasm to their boldly inquiring ways. How many have gotten their nose scratched because they couldn't keep it out of the cat's face, nipped because they just had to keep sniffing the new dog, or full of quills because they just had to know who was living down that hole? Persistence is a great quality, it will see you through a lot in life, but try to resist that rigid stubborn streak that will have you following paths you started down...simply because you started down them.

Dogs like to a. form packs and b. rescue others. These aren't bad things, but we need to be truly aware of whom we are inviting into such an intimate and binding arrangement as "our pack". Just as we need to understand that no matter who someone is to you, no matter what trials they are facing in life and no matter how much you want to reach out and help...you cannot help someone who doesn't believe that they need help, or does not want to help themselves. Dog people are often driven by the desire to help others, to feel needed. There is nothing wrong with offering a friendly paw up to someone in need, but Dog people need to be aware of the help they are offering and make well-considered choices over whom to help, when and with what.

Jealousy over people or things, unnecessary worrying, being too territorial, hoarding, nervous eating, yelling before you know what you are reacting to, hanging on with locked jaws when we should be letting go, or otherwise allowing Instinct to override Reason are also important issues for Dog people. Calling someone a "Dog" in our society is often a reference to their over-active and rather indiscriminate sex life, yet another example of being led by instinct and basic drives.

"Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries." ~ Jimmy Carter

"Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies; but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit." ~ Ansel Adams

"Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

It is extremely important that we be aware and set reasonable boundaries for ourselves. Like their Teachers, Dog people have great heart, great spirit, and it takes a lot to break a Dog...but we should do all that we can not to set ourselves up for a fall. Dogs are often victims of their own folly, and subject to hubris. Consider the Danish proverb, "An honest man is not the worse because a dog barks at him.", and try to let your conscience be your guide. If we've had one of our faults pointed out to us, we should be thankful for the opportunity to correct it. Amazing how many just tend to grumble and growl about it, though, right?

Dog senses are incredibly keen and it is just as vital for Dog people to listen to their hunches as it is for them to not allow Instinct to overrule Reason. If a situation doesn't "feel" right, or you "smell something fishy" that you can't quite put a finger on... don't second guess yourself. Your instincts and heightened perceptions will often set off alarms within you long before your brain has the evidence it needs to process a given situation.

Faithful service, loving devotion, the small becoming great, Instinct and Reason in harmony, noble heart, great spirit... Dog embodies all of these things when well-balanced. Imbalances can run from occasional "bad dog" moments up to the very worst of any given breed; extremes of violence, infidelity, other, and even rabidly destructive behavior. Remember Ol' Yeller? Whether human or canine, Alphas in society should exemplify all that is best in the breed so that others may follow a good example.

Mankind alone makes a habit of following leaders who are less than exemplary, less than balanced. Well-balanced Dogs inspire us to better ourselves, be loving and generous with our fellows, work diligently for the good of all, and to become that which inspires us; to be a leader and set a good example for your pack, the World. Dog reminds us that concepts like "pureblood" and "mutt" are merely illusion, and no one is more important than anyone else on the Wheel of Life. We should celebrity our diversity as the strength it is rather than getting caught up in labels. Is it any wonder that so many people are enamored of this marvelous and generous Creature Teacher? Possible balancing energies: other canines, felines, squirrel, cattle, sheep, rabbit, snake, rat, horse, various members of the Plant Nation like grass, trees (dogwoods for example) or the dog rose. How does Dog appear in your life?

"He is my other eyes that can see above the clouds; my other ears that hear above the winds. He is the part of me that can reach out into the sea. He has told me a thousand times over that I am his reason for being; by the way he rests against my leg; by the way he thumps his tail at my smallest smile; by the way he shows his hurt when I leave without taking him. (I think it makes him sick with worry when he is not along to care for me.)

When I am wrong, he is delighted to forgive. When I am angry, he clowns to make me smile. When I am happy, he is joy unbounded. When I am a fool, he ignores it. When I succeed, he brags. Without him, I am only another man. With him, I am all-powerful. He is loyalty itself. He has taught me the meaning of devotion. With him, I know a secret comfort and a private peace.

He has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant. His head on my knee can heal my human hurts. His presence by my side is protection against my fears of dark and unknown things. He has promised to wait for me... whenever... wherever - in case I need him. And I expect I will - as I always have. He is just my dog." - Gene Hill

Summary: Furry family reunion