In this December 2007 talk given by Ian Dunbar, he discusses his observations on human-to-animal and human-to-human interaction.

He relates an experience of boarding a plane and witnessing a father disciplining his child and remarks that if the child had been a dog, he would have acted to intervene. I, too, have been met with this situation and have always done the same as Dunbar: contemplated but not acted. While I hold to the African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child”, I find myself feeling highly uncomfortable when I see a parent behaving irrationally or otherwise unkindly towards a child. What do I say? Who am I to intervene? What if they tell me it’s their child and I should keep out of it, mind my own business? I can’t count the number of times I’ve chided pet owners for mistreatment, or offered ways they can better train their dog, or told them about the benefits of a harness over a collar.

Dunbar suggests we view the world through the dog’s eyes to better learn how to interact with them. I’d say the same goes for interacting with children.

“The rope-ball thing? George tore up the ball, but there’s some left. It’s in the toy box.”

“Ah. It isn’t his.”

“I was wondering about that. I thought maybe you had gone to Giant Pet Store earlier and bought a new toy. But hey, George sort-of played tug with me.”

George sort-of played tug.

After dinner we went outside and I was flopping the toy around on the ground while George pretended to be a cat, pouncing on it and smacking it with his paws. Then he picked it up with his mouth and started backing away, while I was still holding it. I gave him some resistance, and he still held on to the toy.

This is major.

After two years George is finally playing tug, albeit in a kinda, sort-of way. He doesn’t growl and won’t tug too hard, but he’s definitely playing. Hopefully I can get him to play tomorrow so I can take a few shots of him seeming more like a dog who isn’t afraid of humans.

He’s making progress!