Hero, the lap dog, and I take our walks during the daylight hours in the park and some undeveloped lots around the railroad. Due to his back injury he needs to walk on the grass as much as possible and stay clear of the concrete sidewalks except at night.
Hero seems to greatly enjoy these outings and dances in circles when I pick up the leash. As soon as we near the grassy area, he is nose to the ground. Doing a great imitation of a hoover sucking up all the smells as we go along. He is a proverbial bloodhound disguised as a canine runt.
Forward motion completely stops when he picks up a scent. He sniffs and sniffs as if he is inhaling the aroma of the nectar of the gods. Along the way I have learned what he finds so enticing is the stinkiest of the stinky. At first he just starts with the sniffing, but soon that is not enough . We go from sniffing to the acrobatic move of rolling in the yuck. Stinky and dead things are his catnip--he can not seem to get enough. Our trips to the puppy spa are all for nought after one of these rolls. Tugging on his collar does not work---I have to physically pick him up and redirect his journey.
So it goes with us two legged mammals. We are trekking along the path and BAM we see something which catches our eye-a wolf in sheep's clothing or sin disguised as pleasure. Beginning by watching from the sidelines, we slowly become desensitized to the stink and eventually find ourselves immersed in the decay and rolling around to get even more stink on us. We can't seem to get enough. We loose the ability to know how stinky we have become and cannot get enough of that which is causing us to begin to rot. The only answer is to allow God to pick us up and redirect our path. He will take us away from the stink to the sweet smell of living water and green pastures. The choice though is always in our hands.
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Psalm 121
What a graphic picture you paint of us humans smelling the stink and then rolling in it. Why do dogs do that, I wonder? The number of times my dog stops at the foot of a tree and smells it for ages, even though I pull the lead so we move on. I did bend down and smell the tree with him, but there was nothing enticing there! And why do dogs smell each other when they first meet? Can you imagine if we did that instead of shaking hands and saying: "How do you do?"
ReplyDeleteA great post today, Lulu, with a good lesson too. God bless you.
Oh, we are sniffing each other over, Victor, in our subtle human way. Blessings, My Friend!
DeleteThanks Lulu...another great post. Have a great day, friend.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, My Friend!
DeleteJust because a dog has 25 times as many olfactory receptors as a human doesn’t mean he has a superior idea of what smells good.
ReplyDeletePungent as they are, animal feces — especially those of wild mammals like raccoons, badgers and bears — clearly offer dogs a scent sensation they relish.
Our dogs probably can’t fathom why we scream when they come home smelling like, well, poop, but there may be some biological rationale for the disgusting tendency.
It has been suggested that dogs may be predisposed to this behavior in order to mask their own scent, so they can throw predators off their trail and prey off their game.
Here's another thought: Maybe he’s rolling in it to prove to you, his beloved, how impressive he can smell when he really works at it.
Laughing, Ronny! He tucks that tail when I fuss at his stinkiness!
DeleteBlessings!
First of all, that is my very favorite Psalms!!! The only one I actually memorized at an early age. And how very insightful to compare Hero's habits with we humans and our sins!!! My pups do the same thing, the stinkier the better, and sometimes require baths to remove the horrific odors. They delight in rolling around in the "stuff" but hate the consequences of their actions, much like us.!! Another great post!!! love and miss you.
ReplyDeleteThankful I have only ONE---HOW do you do TWO???
DeleteLove & miss you, My Friend!