The Difference Between Us and Our Pets

The difference between humans and animals is not what most may think. The ability to reason! While animals mainly react based on instincts, humans are also instinctive. Think about the quick reflexes you may have when a ball is heading straight toward your face. There's not much processing thought that needs to transpire for one to figure out that they need to duck and duck quickly. What about that burning feeling on your neck when someone is starring at you and it makes you suddenly turn your head, right in the direction of the spectator.

Humans have the capacity to reason and think logically. Well, studies have clearly proven that so do some animals, such as monkeys. Dogs, for instance are also said to have the thinking capacity of a three year old child. So what is the main difference between us and our pets? Is there even a main difference or perhaps an array of mainy factors? Perhaps the difference between us and our pets is more simple than what it's cracked up to be.

It is said that animals use energy to sift through their own issues. If you've told your cat to stop scratching your couch, how do they know this and show you that they understand this as they run away immediately, if they cannot comprehend what you are actually saying? People like Caesar Millan from the Dog Whisperer says that it is the energy that is given off when such statements are being made. Your dog or cat understands that you are upset and being assertive based on the energy being exerted during your dialog. However, what about some of those things that just simply cannot be explained. Some people cannot be told differently about their pet having human-like attributes and understanding things as do humans no matter what they are proven scientifically. Perhaps there is a little more to this simple energy response thing. Perhaps the innate nature of an animal is more intricate and advanced than we all know. Let's face it, no one can read the mind of another and because of this, we just simply do not know with 100% of certainty, what's going on with in the minds of these animals. The following story is an example of this theory and is used to provide some insight to this ongoing enigma.

My mother-in-law used to have two rottweilers who were a male and female pair. Jax being the female was the oldest and therefore more conventional and resolved compared to the young buck that was Bear. Bear was much younger than Jax and also much more aggressive, whether in a playful mode or in attack mode. Constantly my mother-in-law would fuss with the duo about destroying the house. It was quite a task for the first few years of having them and setting up boundaries. Boundaries that included, no jumping on the kitchen table, the couch, knocking over the garbage can or acting as a living shredding machine with other items in the house. One particular day, the duo was left in the house alone for several hours while there were errands to be run. A surveillance camera system set up in the home displayed the duo getting into havoc early on. The damage by Jax was very minimal, as she suddenly dismissed her tirade as to show that she noticed the home becoming a complete mess. She illustrated this by isolating herself from the aggressive Bear, whom seemed at ease and content with running a muck about the house and destroying everything in sight, for sport.

Upon the return of my mother-in-law, Bear was caught with some evidence in his mouth and stopped in his tracks as to not become noticed if he just stood very still. Jax immediately ran outside and looked back toward the house with an expression of intense worry. Regardless of what my mother-in-law said, Jax would not return into the house. It wasn't until hearing the exact words of; "Jax! It's o.k.! I know it wasn't you who did all of this, I'm not mad at you.", that the worried and fearful Jax finally returned inside and to her normal bedside spot.

My mother-in-law is sure that Jax understood the situation and her words quite clearly to have such a reaction. However, some may argue that it's merely due to the soft and relaxed energy that was exuberated during the given statement. It may in fact have simply been this calm and assertive tone of voice, in which Caesar Millan often says, that triggered Jax to reenter the home with certainty that everything was going to be fine. At least for her! Well, what about the fact that she distanced herself from the tyrant Bear, during the whole escapade? Or the fact that she immediately ran out of the house upon my mother-in-law's arrival, even before she could fully asses the situation and develop an emotion?

This story, and similar ones like it lead me to believe that more than an energetic communication and reasoning difference amongst man and animal, the difference between the two actually lies in the fact that animals simply cannot talk. Well, at least not verbally.