Monday, January 30, 2012

Why dogs love who they love.


I don't know the answer. Do you?
On Saturday, Kristine posed an interesting question on her blog - if you could ask your dog just 1 thing and he was granted the power to reply, what would it be?

If you check my response in the comments section, and The Cushion's, I think it'll become obvious why Georgia's favourite human is him, and not me. [The question must have been top of his mind because he blurted it out almost immediately.]

So our dog doesn't love me as much as she does The Other Half. It's okay. No sympathy or denials required. I was going to count all the votes from the last post, biased or not ;) for fun.

But, my own observations are enough.

I've heard from girlfriends that their girldogs prefer their other halves too. They're all daddy's girls apparently. Could this be true? Is there some kind of scientific evidence of this phenomenon? Or are we just a bunch of failed disappointed dog owners clutching at straws?

Anyway, I'm hoping it's as simple as that. And not that Georgia's canine instincts tell her I'm A Really Bad Person.

The Other Half often tells Georgia, in that barf-worthy baby voice he reserves only for dogs, "You'll always be my girl, Jaw-Jah!"

To which I can only respond with a bright smile on my face, "It's okay, Georgia! You don't have to love me! You just have to love someone."

And I mean that, from the bottom of my [ever so slightly sad and bitter] heart.

*

Here are the promised pictures from Saturday's phở lunch, which The Cushion insists I include, no doubt as proof of his devotion.
"Are you sure you didn't hide any of my beef under the noodles?"

*

Of course [not to sound like a sour grape], there is some debate that dogs actually love at all. This might not be the most appropriate sentiment to include in a dogblog read mostly by doglovers but, as you can tell, I'm not at all an·thro·po·mor·phic an(t)-thrə-pə-ˈmr-fik


And here's a somewhat related topic -

* Why people love dogs.

An excerpt :
"Over thousands of years of living with humans, dogs have become wily and transfixing sidekicks with the particularly appealing characteristic of being unable to speak. We are therefore free to fill in the blanks with what we need to hear. (What the dog may really be telling us, much of the time, is, "Feed me.")"

"Are you sure you didn't hide any of my beef under the noodles?"    "Are you going to feed me?"


"It's okay. You can let go now."

On yet another somewhat related topic, Pamela asked this question, also over the weekend  - does loving dogs automatically qualify a person for sainthood? [She didn't use those exact words.]

She included a riveting video of Hitler and his [apparently beloved] dog, Blondi. I guess that sort of answers the question.



21 comments:

What Remains Now said...

I've always thought dogs the embodiment of "love the one you're with." I try not to think about it too much.

Ellen said...

Ahhhh...the who do you love conundrum. I know my itty bitty heart gets an itty bitty ouch when the poochies give my hubby more lovin'. Not that he doesn't deserve the love but when you are the observer of all this I sometimes feel it and most times I smile, laugh and am so glad he loves our poochies as much as me.

(I get to love them all day while he works...hehehehe!)

Jan said...

If dogs don't love us, I'll take whatever they give us.

Kari in Alaska said...

My dogs love people, mostly us, but anyone really

Stop on by for a visit
Kari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com

Jean said...

Number 631 on my list of reasons to stay single: my dogs won't love some other human more than they love me.

houndstooth said...

Hmm... Well, Bunny adores me and will push my husband off the couch to be close to me. She's really quite put out if he's closer to me than she is. She also spends most of the night trying to push him out of the bed. However, most dogs that we meet seem to instantly fall for my husband. He's like the Pied Piper of Dogs! I admit, it's a bit disgusting. And yes, part of the reason Bunny is spoiled rotten is because she chooses me!

georgia little pea said...

dear Bunny's mum,

it looks like we both married pied pipers. mine is like that with other doggies too. i swear it's the lingering smell of treats in his pocket. there's always a logical explanation for these things :)

Bicontinental Dachshund said...

Dear Georgia,

I'm a girl dachshund, but I'm more attached to my mom than to my dad. I hope that doesn't add insult to injury. It really hurts my dad's feelings because he is devoted to me. I DO love him deeply and truly. Remember this: "Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the human heart can hold." -Zelda Fitzgerald... when it says "human" it should say "dogs."

Your abiding friend, Tootsie

georgia little pea said...

So poof! goes the daddy's girl theory lol.

That's a beautiful thought, Tootsie my abiding friend. Thank you :) x

June said...

I think I read once that female animals of any species prefer to associate with males of any other species, and vice versa.
As for whether or not dogs love . . . sometimes I wonder if humans love.

roughseasinthemed said...

A couple of great posts there. Missed the last one as been too busy on my blogs to check out dog blogs (bad me) but will get round to Pippita's soon. Ish.

I think you have outlined what must be a frequent pattern in so many households. Woman feeds dog and looks after it. Man takes it out to walk, sometimes accompanied by woman. The bigger/stronger etc the dog, the more likely this is to be the case (bitter experience of being pulled over in various cat chases).

May write a blog post (on one of mine), as it's always an interesting one for dog people to ponder.

Enjoyed reading the links too - and I probably agree with the fact that they are pretty manipulative :)

Kate and Manipulative Pippa

Patrice and Higgins said...

I love my mom way more than my dad! He does not get his feelings hurt over it anymore, he has made his peace with it! HA!

~Higgins

booahboo said...

urmm... everyone in ma family do wonder why Dom loves me most.. hahahahaha.. but i think its because... i feed him all the time :)

booahboo said...

thanks for the greets.. sorry we have been away for a very long time.. we are only catching up on the reading now... :) hope you are on the mend.. that was a very bad cut on your eye.

Anonymous said...

I think our dogs are equal oppurtunity. They seem to like me slightly better, but not a lot.

Unknown said...

Aw...poor Typist sounds (sort of) hurt. :( GLP, you need to start showing more appreciation to the Typist!

I wonder what dogs think. Puppy was originally hubby's dog, and he met me only after hubby and I actually started living together. So I can't complain if he favors his dad!

But he has specific ways of showing his allegiance: As for obedience, he is out and out dad's boy - he won't listen to me one bit. But if he is feeling ill, then he comes and cuddles next to me. Also, if hubby and I have a fight, Puppy comes and stands next to me and growls at his dad. That, of course, could be due to his male instinct of protecting the weaker!

Sage said...

I see Sage going to my other half at times I think she should be at my side, but it was one of our cats that really told the tale (or maybe it should have been the tail :) ). While we were out of town recently, this cat really developed an attachment to the pet-sitter, who is more of a cat person than a dog person. When we came home, Thailing (the cat) jumped up on my lap, thinking I was still the pet-sitter. She took one look (or maybe it was a smell) and immediately jumped down. She tried it one more time, realized it was me, and we're back to the "I don't really want much to do with you, except when you feed me" mode.

That was the ultimate snub...at least in my book. So, bottom line. You are tops on Georgia's list. As Sage would say: "I just know it".

Greyhounds CAN Sit said...

When I had a bigger multi dog family and a husband all the dogs preferred me, although they loved him too. Even the terrier X pup I bought him for a birthday present and hardly saw and studiously ignored for 2 weeks until one night he left John's lap, came and curled up on my lap, gave a big sigh and went to sleep. He was a dog like no other I've ever had. Then we got Katie who loved John the best, yay:)

Karen Friesecke said...

Maybe Georgia shows the "other half" more affection because she sees him less than you?

georgia little pea said...

Sounds like most of you have dogs that prefer you! Oh oh.

Pippa's Kate - HOW many blogs do you have?!!

Swati - Puppy's behavior sounds similar to Georgia's. It looks like we're the designated carers! She also comes to check on me when The Other Half and I have a dispute. She doesn't growl at him though. Bummer ;p

Sage's mum - at least I didn't lose out to a pet sitter! BOL.

Sue - I know how John must have felt. Thank god for Katie ;)

sonia a. mascaro said...

Love this post and the comments too. I would love to know the answer... I am thinking about Flora... who she loved the most? Me or my husband? I think it is me because I stayed all day with her and I feed her too. Lol!
I will follow the links.

PS: I like LinkWithin because I can see another posts I had missed...