We get the animals we need, and sometimes for our needs and many people need to think that our animals have the same emotions we do. Perhaps they are right. I don’t believe so.  Humans have a need to believe they have all the answers, even when there are no answers to be had.

Animals have emotions, but they are theirs, not ours. I see in Sweet Simon, and the dogs also, a profound need for connection, for human connection. It calms and guides and grounds them. It is not a treat or a passing desire, but, I think a visceral and ancient and instinctive need. It has to do with what we feel and project, with food, with comfort and attention.  An exchange of emotions, rather than an exchange of language, which they do not possess.

I know something about our end of love with animals, but I bow to the mystery of animals and acknowledge that I do not know what goes through heads. And that is a good place for me to stop. I love the magic and mystery of animals. I love what I do not know. They have alien minds, and I do not know how far I will get in my life to really understanding them. I admit freely that I do not know, and I hope most of the time that I never know.