Dogs don’t have shame.

Dogs don’t have pride or arrogance.

Dogs don’t have a sense of entitlement of competitiveness.

They just are. They like walks. And food. And people. And frolicking.

Treat ’em right and they’re the happiest creatures alive. In fact, treat ’em wrong they’re likely to be just as happy.

Yell at them and they’ll just try harder to make you happy.

Coo at them and they’ll coo back.

All that baggage — shame, pride, arrogance, anger, entitlement, competitiveness — that is all our mess.

Our mess that we project onto them. All that mess is human beings giving dogs far more complexity than they actually have; or need.

It makes me wonder …

What else are we projecting out into the world that’s ours and just ours alone?

What else are we imposing on other creatures that share our world that has nothing to do with them, and everything to do with us?

First published on Medium on February 15, 2016