My (fantastic)relationship with animals

Recently this dude...uhhh...me....started this imitative of sharing culture around certain topics and brought up the topic of animals. I have so much to say that I could probably make a post for each question but I have many other things I want to share so I tried to keep it short enough to fit into one post. Let's get to it.

If you are interested in participating in this initiative, check out the original post here

- Do you like animals? Why or why not?

Of course! I think animals aren't really that different from people. They just lack language and social concepts and have a few different instincts from us depending on the animal.

I think animals are more deeply connected with the forces of life and understand far more than we give them credit for. They may not understand language or be able to think in the same context that we can but they all have their own unique abilities. I imagine there are some things animals understand that we do not. Some science can even explain, like animals ability to predict the weather or sense a predator through their sense of smell.

On the other hand, while animals may have some physically stronger senses than we do, we can learn from animals and improve our senses. I imagine very few of us have explored our sense of smell or our sense of hearing nearly as much as animals do because we are so busy in our heads and distracted by our thoughts. With fewer thoughts and more practice I'm sure we'd all have much sharper senses.

I love learning from animals and their unique qualities.

- Do you have or have you ever had a pet?

When I lived with my family we had a dog, a Shiba. He was like a cat who looked like fluffy fox. He got super excited to see us when we came home but within 3 minutes, he'd ignore us and walk away. He was scared of plastic bags and leather. He loved humans and hated dogs.

I had a parakeet for 3 days but she died as soon as we took her home. We wonder what happened. We thought it was the newspaper we put in the cage to collect her poop but we never figured it out.

I took care of friends cats and dogs for a few weeks or months at a time, and took care of two really cute cats for 2 years.

- Are animals respected or looked down upon in your culture?

It's pretty mixed but in both America and Japan people take better care of animals than in most countries. The only thing that bothers me is how these sterile societies don't allow people to roam around freely if they are trained, and also the practice of putting unwanted animals to sleep is pretty sad. As a society we kill dogs and cats when there are too many of them, and yet we look down on people for eating dogs and cats, that seems like such a huge contradiction to me.

- What wild animals can be found where you live (or in your hometown)?

In Tokyo it's basically just crows and pigeons and a few other small birds. I've heard of tanuki sightings, and I saw a civet once, but no one believed me. And Cicadas...the sound is really annoying to most people but I think of it like monks chanting in a high pitch which is nice.

In my hometown in the US though, we had a bunch of fun animals. Squirrels and Chipmunks were most common. Rabbits, Turkey, Deer were all common enough. Skunk and Possum showed up every once in a while and Racoons as well. Lots of different birds that I didn't really know the names of. Bears, Moose and snake lived within 30 minutes (by car) from my house but they never strayed into my suburban neighborhood. Ah and Butterflies, Ladybugs and Fireflies!

- Do any animals have a specific meaning in your culture?

I never paid much attention to this but I am interested in indigenous cultures and their beliefs so if I ever go back to the US I may learn more about this.

- What animal do you feel most attracted or connected to?

I always said I liked pigeons the most because they seem to be doing their best and enjoying life in the cold. Also I love that pigeon who runs into the distance ("where it will surely die") in that Wener Herzog documentary about Antarctica.

I love dolphins, I think they are probably smarter than humans but since they have no hands they can't develop anything and so we can't see how smart they are.

I like all kinds of animals, Been thinking about finding a small animal since we aren't really allowed to have pets but if it's small and quiet, we can get away with it.

We've already decided that we'll get a Caique or two, a chinchilla or two and a cat when we buy a house. I kind of want a sugar glider but it sounds like too much work. Same with a golden retriever. We may settle for a lizard before we buy a house.

-What’s the most beautiful relationship you’ve seen between a human and an animal?

A friend of mine had a Labrador that was practically human. We was never on a leash and he listened to everything his Human said, most of the time at least. Still he was the boss. He knew how to get what he wanted.

He was very aggressive about getting you to pet him, never mean, but he would push his face into you until you agreed to pet him. He had his favorite music, Rock, Hip hop and Electronic...never play jazz or pop when he is around he will start barking. He would leave the house to visit friends houses.

One time I was on the couch at home and I heard panting outside. I opened the door and the dog was sitting there. "Yo" I said and he walked in to sit down for 20 minutes before getting up and leaving. He just wanted to spend a little time with me.

The owner treated him like a human too, always talking to him, so he understood everything. He liked to show off by swimming far into the ocean and almost got himself killed once or twice.

I will miss that dude.

- What was your best experience with an animal?

My friends had a cat in their studio and it was really not a fan of being touched. I observed it for a few days and tried to get into its head. I realized no one was leaving a comfortable seat for it and often would take it off of a pillow so they could use the cushion for themselves.

One time I saw it looking around for an empty cushion but there were none since the studio often had a bunch of people there. I offered mine to the cat and it jumped right up on it. The next day it came to rub against my leg which it had never done for anyone. I loved how it showed it's appreciation so clearly.

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