Dekker Speaks
If you are new to TheReflectivePen you may not have read any of Dekker’s advice. Who is Dekker?
Well, the short answer is he is a service dog whose primary job is to keep me out of trouble.
He has many talents which is another story (and no…he hasn’t started knitting…yet!
But there is probably a book about knitting in his canine creative brain)– but I can tell you that one of his greatest talents is listening to me.
He will do almost anything I ask him to do and he is alert both to what I say and what he can hear that I am not saying.
It wasn’t until the isolating days of the pandemic that I took the time to listen to him at that level, and these monthly posts are the result of hearing his wisdom applied to the everyday dilemmas of humans…and sometimes their pets.
If you have questions for Dekker, leave them in the comments and I will see that he gets them.
Dear Dekker,
Do dogs and cats, (and goldfish for that matter) go to heaven when they die?
I never thought much about it before, but my dog died
last week and suddenly it is important to me.
Thank you, Elsie
Woof woof Elsie, I hope you have a way to feel your sadness instead of thinking so much. Thinking seems to be a particularly human response to feelings. If I could, I would put my head in your lap and let you rub my ears.
I never think about where I will go when I die. In fact, I never think about dying, and I believe all dogs are like me. (I can’t speak for cats. They may have a plan for eternal life I know nothing about!)
What’s important to me is THIS day! Am I serving my person? Is it 4 o’clock? (I have learned that is when there is food!) What’s that crumb under the table? The present moment with all its smells and possibilities is the heaven I know.
Dear Dekker,
Do you think I should teach my dog to do tricks that make people laugh?
I saw an actor with the coolest dog who could add up numbers
he saw on a card, untie a knotted rope, and open
a door that had been tied shut. People
clapped so hard when he found
a coin hidden in someone’s
pocket that I thought
I would like to
grow up to be
like him.
The actor, not the dog.
Thanks, Arnold
Woof Woof, Arnold, I always wonder about people’s need for something to make them laugh. Do you not find joy in just cuddling your dog?
Now if it is recognition by your own breed that is important, then accomplishing something very unusual may bring you the attention you desire.
It may be like the way I have trained my person to feed me at 4 o’clock. I think dogs are much easier to train than people. Don’t you?
Dear Dekker
My hound dog, Oscar, and I go everywhere together. He comes along with me to the postbox at the corner of the block and loves to go swimming when we go to the lake. He minds exceedingly well until we go for a walk in the woods. Suddenly his nose is to the ground and I have all I can do to hold him back as he drags me off the path and through the underbrush. Do you have anything I can tell him about how to behave on a leash?
Thank you, Oswald
Woof woof, Oswald. Oscar is doing exactly what he was born to do. He is taking his person for a walk and teaching you how to follow.
I can tell you he is concerned about your reluctance to use your nose and enjoy all the wonderful scents on the forest floor.
The problem here is one of perspective. Who is walking whom on the leash?
The next time you go to the forest, take a few moments with the leash and ask yourself that question.
It may take a while for Oscar to recognize your authority but he never will until you do.
Dear Dekker, how did you learn to write?
I have ideas for a novel and I want
to write a memoir but I have no
idea where to start.
Any suggestions?
Thanks, Stephanie King
Woof woof, Stephanie. Your name sounds so familiar! I have heard my person talk about a King who writes mysteries. Have you read any of them?
I understand that reading is important if you want to write. I never read a book in my life (kind of hard to turn the pages), but I read people.
I watch their movements, I listen to their stories, and I observe their faces.
Being a writer is talking about what you see (and smell) so people who can’t see what you see can see.
See?
Woof!
You may already be a writer. You just haven’t put the words on paper yet.
I had that problem until I came to live with my person. My paws are just too clumsy to hold a pen so she puts the words down that she hears by listening to my heart.
Learn to listen, and write down what you hear and you will discover that you are already a writer.
Like me.
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