Inter-Species Friendships: What We Can Learn?

What's to learn? My feline housemate, Bella, and I have been friends from day one. (I just pretend I don't like her to keep up my image).

O.K. Maybe it's what you humans can learn. This fascinating New York Times article, complete with videos and slide shows, helps us all better understand what propels inter-species "friendships" and what, if anything, can be learned from these unusual bondings. It also seems that humans find such relationships endlessly fascinating: Will "the lion [really] lay down with the lamb", or will he or she simply toy with it for awhile before it becomes dinner? And more importantly, did that adorable Labrador puppy really win the hearts of those giant Clydesdales?

What this article so eloquently ponders is why, if various animals can bond across species, does the human animal have so much trouble bonding across ethnic, racial and territorial lines, for example.
Some humans crave to be reconnected to nature and simply find "odd examples" of inter-speices friendships funny or attractive. "Others see in the meeting of dog and doe, goat and rhino, tiger and bear, an idea of peaceful connection that humans too often find elusive."

We'd love to hear what you think about inter-species friendships, including some of your own!

Share

Super Bowl Commercials...And Dogs!

    Photo of adorable puppy and Clydesdale courtesy of Budweiser

For a while now, Parental Unit's been keeping track of all of the commercials that have dogs in them, and if you really pay attention, you'll notice that the list is practically endless. And it's interesting that most of the products touted in those commercials have nothing to do with dogs—like arthritis and flu medicine, cars, human food...you name it, a company will use a dog to sell it.

Now, we see nothing wrong with this, especially when those commercials depict the dogs as full members of the family and getting lots of exercise and play (like that woman with arthritis who takes the medicine and can then enjoy long, vigorous walks with her faithful canine). But the more interesting question to us is "why". Why are companies using dogs to sell their products much more in the last few years than ever before? Is it because we now (thankfully) treat dogs more like family members? Or perhaps advertisers believe that dogs are honest, warm and fuzzy, cute, endearing (they are!) and that "vibe" will rub off on the company and their products, translating into increased sales? Those are the only semi-logical reasons we can come up with, but we'd  love to hear your take on this.

Meanwhile, if you aren't one of the 14 million people that have already viewed the new Budweiser commercial debuting during the Super Bowl tomorrow, enjoy it now. It's over-the-top adorable, no many how many times you see it.

We do have one question about this commercial, though: Does the "Puppy Adoption" place look a bit unreal to you? Given that the dogs appear to be purebred, it looks more like a breeder to us. Are we missing something? Let us know and enjoy the Super Bowl!

Share