I always thought that making decisions was a human thing. Us dogs have our ideas sharply drawn in our brains (particularly us Dachshunds and Terriers) No doubt about which way we want to go.
When we go on walks, my nose tells me exactly which direction is the most interesting and I always pull that way. Sometimes my leash follows, other times the leash pulls back. I always thought that I had no decision-making problems but a leash-pulling problem. Our Lady decides where we can and can’t go. We don’t always agree.
Then one day I was allowed off the leash for good behavior. We were on this green and wild side of the neighborhood where we live. Trees on the right, a rough steep slope right ahead, which led up to some fantastic unknown place, and the houses on the far left.
When we arrived to this exciting spot, quite unexpected in an urban setting, the first thing I saw was the slope and I could only imagine the action-packed adventures that surely awaited for me on top. The decision was crystal clear.
My nose was processing a lot of information at the same time, all too thrilling to focus on just one. I wanted it all and I was going to have it as soon as I was left off the leash.
“Ok fellas, you are free to sniff around!” our Lady said and freed us from the restraining leash. Boboni started sniffing the ground under his paws intensely in a frantic zig-zag motion (he is a real hunter).
I knew where I was going: to the slope. I run towards it and right before I reached it, I perceived the most enticing smell coming from the right. The trees. There was something there that I needed to go and see and probably bite. Dozens of other dogs had been and marked there. I had to go too! But what about the slope and the breathtaking adventures awaiting for me on top?
Could I do both? The trees and the slope? What if our Lady called us before I had time to explore everything? I had to choose quickly, make up my mind, decide which option I preferred, which option was the most beneficial, which option was THE BEST.
I don’t think I’ve ever understood humans as distinctly as I did then.
Making decisions, what a pain in the b… (my Lady doesn’t want me to say “butt” ☹. Don’t worry if it’s in parenthesis or quotation marks it doesn’t count.).
That day I realized that being faced with multiple appealing choices is a really inconvenient fate. Not that I rather walk on the leash, but either I have it all or if I have to choose I rather don’t have that many choices.
Has this ever happened to you? My Lady and I have talked about it and she says that it’s the same for her when she goes shopping, especially for clothes.
So I am set to figure out a method to handle indecision because I intend to continue facing the world off the leash and I want to make sure I am well furnished in my attic to make qualified and worthy decisions without wasting any time.
Muy bonito