Happiness Lessons From Dogs

New friends often immediately think I’m a “cat person” just because I don’t have dogs anymore now and I am looking after 12+1 cats. But the truth is, I grew up with dogs and I love them just as much. I just cannot have another dog as 13 cats are all I can handle!

Here’s a tribute to dogs and the wonderful lessons they teach us:�http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/wellness/What-Dogs-Can-Teach-Us-About-Being-Content.html

A dog�s sense of smell is said to be ten thousand times better than a human�s, and that�s also how much better dogs are than humans at being happy. Human happiness is a shabby thing compared with a dog�s. For eons, humans benefitted from the canine gift for happiness and favored happy dogs, who thus passed along their happy genes, producing a species that is now besotted, almost deranged, with happiness. Of course, many other animals take pleasure in being alive�eagles soaring, otters skidding down slides, cows content to the point of smugness. But there�s a selfishness to that happiness. Dog happiness always looks outward.

And, no offence to cats (you are what you are, Indy!), but this (below) is so true…

And dogs laugh! Not only do they laugh, they mean it, unlike such sarcastic types as monkeys, hyenas, and dolphins. (I know dolphins are friendly, but that high-pitched chuckle of theirs can wear on you.) A dog will laugh at anything. Hiding the ball, then pulling it out of your coat�hilarious! Watching you load the car before the vacation�a riot! Dogs are like an audience someone has already warmed up so that they laugh and voice their approval the minute the featured act (you) steps onto the stage. Dogs laugh even when they don�t get the joke, which is often. But hey, if you�re laughing, it must be funny, and that�s good enough for them.

To understand the sense of humor dogs have, it�s useful to contrast it with that of their main pet competitor: cats. Cats do not really have a sense of humor. In its place, they cultivate a deep sense of the ironic. The detached, ironical pleasure cats take in watching and inflicting suffering is a horrid substitute for the hearty wholesomeness of dog laughter. And a cat never laughs out loud. The best that cats can muster is a sardonic smirk, an �I told you so� bared in their pointy incisors.

Dogs laugh just as hard when the joke is on them, but cats hate being the butt of laughter. One time my cat was asleep on the mantelpiece in the living room. In his sleep, he turned over, woke up, found himself lying on empty air, and began scrabbling frantically on the mantel with his front paws to keep from going down. Cartoonlike, he lost the struggle and dropped to the floor. I saw the whole thing and laughed my head off. Only the cat�s dignity was injured, but he never forgave me, for the course of his half-hour memory span. He slunk around and shot me dirty looks and was really a bad sport about it, I thought. A dog would�ve made that same pratfall and hopped back on the mantel and done it again just for laughs.

I can definitely attest to what the article says, even though Bobby, being a poodle, did have a mind of his own and had “selective hearing” (read: was very strong willed). We think our cats are what they are because they were brought up by Uncle Bobby!

I think Tabs is a dog at heart…ha ha! �Ginger is also a dog at heart!

Here are some heart-warming�photos of Mac and Bobby:

Source: http://myanimalcare.org/2015/03/04/happiness-lessons-from-do..

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