I haven’t met many people in my life who are truly dog-indifferent. Sure, they may say they are, but get them in the room with a beloved, loving, “please pay attention to me” canine and they will either acquiesce to those puppy dog eyes, and despite your warnings begin feeding the dog treats surreptitiously under the table, or they will stiffen up, possibly mumble a nicety or two, and do their best to ignore the beast, hoping it will go away.
My parents are in the later category, though even they can be found showing a begrudging affection to the odd dog. But they do not belong in the house. Dogs, that is, not my parents. My parents are pretty much house-trained.
For two people who must be genetically predisposed to believe that no animal of any kind belongs in the home, their children are a complete failure. All three of their offspring have had multiple dogs in our homes over the years, big and small. And our children seem to lean towards taking after us, not their grandparents.
Dog Songs is a book of poetry for the dog lover. The person who knows, deep down, that the family dog is just that…family. That each dog has its own personality, its own quirks and oddities, its own stubbornness, just like we humans do. Dog Songs is for those who believe our dogs are human.
Mary Oliver is a truly marvelous poet. More than any other poet I have yet to discover–and I am admittedly a non-expert on poets and poetry–the work of Mary Oliver is something that I can share with anyone and they would get it. It would strike an emotional cord.
I read this book in snatches, primarily outdoors, soaking up the sounds and smells of nature, such as it exists in an older small city neighborhood, to better connect with Oliver’s reflections on her dogs in their element, roaming the wilds of the yard or the neighboring woodlands.
Through a long and observant lifetime, Mary Oliver is able to capture the essence of what it means to have a close, daily relationship with a beloved dog, and I daresay she is able to capture what it is like to be a dog in a loving, supportive relationship.
More than once I found myself with tears of love and joy welling in the corners of my eyes, and a lump in my throat as I tried to read aloud to Mary a passage that struck a cord.
Mary and I have had two* in-house dogs in our married lives, Razz, adopted from our friends James and Julie, and Charlie, pictured above, who we adopted from a local shelter. We had to put Razz to sleep when he was 16 years old due to failing health and there are still days when I wish I would come home to see his smiling face.
Charlie, who is always a bit suspicious that anything not involving food or a walk will possibly lead to his imminent death, is 13. Looking at older pictures from when he came to our home, at less than a year old, he has grayed considerably. He has lost the ability of spatial awareness and no longer deftly moves out of your way in the kitchen, but instead acts as a tripping hazard as his mind focuses solely on food that may drop on the floor.
We say Charlie is our last. We want to travel more. We want to tear down the dilapidated fence in our back yard and leave it down. We want to avoid rushing home every few hours to let a dog out to do his/her business. Time will tell if we are fooling ourselves.
*I write that Mary and I have only had two dogs live in our home in the 31 years we have been married, but the truth is that we had the pleasure of caring for our nephew-dog, Motley, for weeks and sometimes a month or more at a time when my sister Abby, her husband Mike, and their family made moves to various places for work. Motley may be my favorite dog who has ever lived, no offense to my beloved Razz or Charlie. He was a cantankerous, bold, loving dog who did not age well in his physical body but whose spirit was as young as ever when he came to visit. I do miss him so. I love the way this book reminded me of these dogs and the dogs of friends and family with whom I’ve had the joy of spending time.
Dog Songs is a book I would gift to anyone who loves dogs, even if they consider themselves indifferent to, or wholly against, poetry. This is poetry that even the most poem-averse of us can enjoy, not because Mary Oliver oversimplifies her thoughts, but because she is so brilliant at conveying in words, on a page, exactly how we feel, and how we who make room in our hearts and homes for dogs see the world.
My husband and I have been married for 40 years and for the first 20 years we had a dog (first a German Shepherd, next a cute mutt that looked like a mix of spaniel and dachshund). The second 20 years, since we have been in our current home, we have had a cat (the first one a tortoiseshell/calico blend, the current one a calico). We have loved all of them, but I will say that cats are easier.
This does sound like a lovely books of poems. I have heard of Mary Oliver, but I have not read her poems. I will see if I can find some to read.
I would recommend this collection, and her collection called Felicity. It is also lovely, and not quite the singular focus like Dog Songs.
Ironically, having just posted about babysitting Motley, it looks like we might have a doggy guest, Lucy, staying with us next week while our friends go on vacation.
Try as I might, I cannot understand why anyone would keep an animal as a pet. Animals should be with their own kind. From birds and hamsters in cages to rabbits, reptiles and fish in glass/wooden boxes, I’m continually staggered by anyone who thinks any animal would want to spend their life with a different species.
As for dogs… how many spend their lives completely bored out of their minds, stuck in a house while their “owner” is at work? How many are still bored when their owner is in the house and sat watching TV for hours?
How many live far beyond their natural lifespan; spending years in pain and misery due to arthritis and other ailments, which they wouldn’t experience in the wild, but their “owner” cannot bear to have “their baby” put to sleep because it’s “part of the family”?
Answer to all questions is: far too many. Unbelievable that a human being would take a puppy from its mother — can you imagine what the mother must think when she has a litter of puppies and they all gradually disappear over the course of a week; or even worse, all on the same day? But that doesn’t matter does it, as long the humans have their new family member? “Isn’t it cyooooooooot!”
Then the new family member is taken to the vet to have its ability to reproduce taken away. How loving. Injected with vaccines every 6 months. Then it has little to zero contact with other dogs (sort of like being a prisoner) for the rest of its extended life.
Imagine if an extraterrestrial family came to Earth to live. Mother, father and the 2 children. They see us the way an ever-increasing number of people see animals. The children ask “Mum! Dad! Can we have a pet human? Pleeeaaase!”. “OK,” the parents say “but just one.” So off they go for a walk around a town and spot a 4-year-old girl walking with her mother. The ETs zap the mother so she cannot move for a few minutes, take the girl, go back to their ship and return to their planet to remove the girl’s ability to reproduce. On goes the collar.
They return to Earth, locate a deserted island and live their lives, treating the girl like a pet. Anything wrong with that?
Next time you’re out and about and you see a guide dog, take a good, long look at it. A dog has been taken as a puppy and trained to aid its visually impaired “owner”. Do you think the dog has any idea that its owner cannot see? Of course not. Does it look happy? No? Why is that? Because it’s not being allowed to be a dog. It’s a slave. But we can’t call it that; we must call it a companion. A companion that’s been forced to aid its “owner”. If you encounter a guide dog, look very closely when its “owner” wants to cross a road. Does the dog look like it knows what it’s doing, or does it look miserable, confused, like it’s thinking “What the f*** is going on?”.
As for “Dog Songs is for those who believe our dogs *are* human.” Er… what? Do the four legs and tail not give you a hint?
Pet owners: Cruelest people on the planet. Bird “owners” take the top spot, I think. “I love birds… that’s why I keep one in a cage!”
“…for those who believe our dogs are human.” I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you do actually understand using language to convey a feeling, not a fact.
I can understand your passion even though I cannot say that I agree with it fully. I do agree in the sense that many animals live in terrible conditions and that if people aren’t able to spend significant time with a pet that they probably should not have one. I’m also not the biggest fan of “puppy mills” and the like because there are more than enough dogs and cats that are being born naturally that would not survive due to overpopulation that people should adopt from shelters and not from mills. My opinion.
There is definitely a responsibility that comes along with having a pet that should not be entered into lightly and so I do have some agreement with your sentiments even though I clearly don’t feel the same way you do about it.
And if you think pet owners are the cruelest people on the planet, clearly you don’t get out much…or perhaps that is you using language to convey a feeling, not a fact?
I have never been a big fan of poetry, but I love Mary Oliver’s collections, particularly Felicity, which I blogged about last year (reviewed here). Speaks to my heart and makes me stop and appreciate life’s simple pleasures. I’ve had Dog Songs on my TBR list for quite some time, so thanks for the reminder to place an order for a copy.
With regards to dogs, my husband has always loved dogs. He often says he prefers dogs to most people and until we got our first dog as a couple, I didn’t understand that sentiment. We’ve had two great dogs over the course of 31 years and it was these two sweet souls that worked their way into my heart and taught me what it means to be a dog-lover. It broke our hearts immeasurably when they were put to sleep due to health issues consistent with old age, and when we said goodbye to our sweet Annie-dog (right before we made the move to Oregon), I swore I would never go through that again. My husband would love to have another dog, but understands my reasons. He gets his dog “fix” when we see our neighbors out walking theirs, or when we visit relatives who have dogs, but admits he is happy that he doesn’t have to walk a dog in the rain or worry about leaving one alone in our RV when we want to go on a hike or bike ride.
I will check out your review. I just recently finished Felicity and LOVED it. Her poems really do help to appreciate life’s simple pleasures, as you wrote.
I suspect I too will be getting my dog fix from friends and neighbors in the future after Charlie leaves us. It was certainly hard to lose Razz.
Wow.
Love that cover, such a perfect depiction of a dog.
I’m a dog-lover, have three at the moment. Was only supposed to have one, but a third stuck with us due to a failed-foster arrangement 🙂
But at the same time I can understand the desire to not have that responsibility because they do require a lot of looking after and thinking about. Don’t think I’d be without one though
It will be a hard choice to make once the reality sets in on some future date that we do not have a dog at our house.
The art in this book is all wonderful.
No offense, but Mr. Richardson sounds off his rocker and I don’t agree with a word of his comment. I am a pet lover, dog lover & animal lover and I just saw this lovely post. I too have read Mary Oliver’s Dog Songs. Love it. My husband & I have a yellow Lab (just turning 8 on July 3) who is the light of our lives these middle age years. She is with us all the time and loves walks & swims in the river & much attention. She is the kindest sweetest soul ever. She sits with us on the deck and in the house and in the car. She is happiness in many ways. So I hope Charlie won’t be your last. Without dogs, the world would be a dark awful place right? thanks for this post.
Awww…that is wonderful! I wish Charlie liked to be in the water, we have places he would enjoy if he did. We cannot even get him to drink from those doggie fountains in parks. He was not quite a year old when we adopted him from the shelter and I have a feeling he was traumatized during those months before we got him as he still, all these years later, has the strangest phobias. We tried to get him to swim once at a dog park…or even just to drink from that pond since it was so hot, and it was a no go. He’s a sweetie, despite of and because of his idiosyncrasies. Your Lab sounds wonderful!
Ahh, I’m in the dog lover group. I love dogs and our current dog is a star – but getting on now at 15 years old. We’re not getting another pet after Dude eventually leaves us (of course being a terrier he could have a good few years left in him yet). We also want to travel more and I hate leaving him, even just for a few hours.
Lynn 😀
We are very torn about what we will do, which is why we are determining now to say “no”, so that at the very least we won’t make an emotional decision after he has passed.
Today is National Dog Day, by the way, so hug your dog!