Walking Miss Poppy

I was dog sitting for a while the other day and took Anne's border collie Poppy for a walk. It was an interesting experience to walk with a well behaved, intelligent young dog who was obviously enraptured by the scents and sounds of early Spring.

Humans are so sight oriented, it takes a pig farm nearby to engage our olfactory senses, but Poppy was experiencing her life principally in that way. Oh, oh, oh, she said as her nose poked deep into a twiggy hollow beside a water filled ditch. What is that, as she listened to a red winged blackbird, trying to catch its scent to really understand.

I found I was listening as well as seeing: a watch-quail calling from a blackberry vine perch, the first robins, the sheep in the fields, the wind in the trees. I watched Poppy's nose twitch to a passing scent, how she lurched from side to side trying to stay in the flow of fascinating smells along the road side. I understood today why humans and dogs have such a long history of co-evolution, their senses complement each other. This morning, thanks to Poppy, I experienced Spring in multiple dimensions.