Whoever says that neighbors aren’t neighborly is gravely mistaken.
I am in the habit of running at least six times a week in our village — and I must say that “Good morning” and “you’re looking great” from complete strangers are not uncommon. It’s just great and it makes for a perfect start of a day — more so when my yesterday ended up drably.
Yet, I venture to make one more observation about running in the village. It’s the folks who are walking their dogs who are even more friendly. I know, since our village park does not allow dogs — more and more responsible pet owners have opted to take to the village streets to walk the dogs.
I have quite a lot of studies that say that people with pets are happier and healthier than those who don’t have pets.
“Say hi to Kathy,” a neighbor coaxes her doggies as we smile at each other.
I always make sure to stop and get to know the names of the human and her doggie, too.
It’s really great.
I always stop for pets — no matter the breed or who is walking them. There are lots of helpers walking the dogs and I really have to make sure that I say hi to both.
The act of stopping to greet them — is much like stopping to smell the flowers, for me. A doggie joyfully wagging its tail, letting me pat him on the head or even jumping playfully to let me know that I am ok completes my day and makes me a wee bit happier.
I put on my running shoes early in the morning and I jump out of bed, no matter how late I may have gone to bed the night before because I am addicted to beginning my day on a happy, pet greeting note.
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I want to thank my friend Alexie, who shared with me this link http://www.dailymail.co.uk. It is a story written by David Derbyshire on why dogs are smarter than cats. It is quite interesting and I reprint excerpts here for pet owners.
Scientists claimed pet dogs are smarter than their feline counterparts.
The reason, they claim, is that dogs evolved bigger brains because friendly, social mammals need more grey matter than solitary, aloof ones.
The researchers at Oxford University charted the evolution of mammal brains over the last 60 million years — from a few million years after the dinosaurs became extinct to the modern day.
They discovered that there is a strong link between the size of a brain relative to an animal’s body and how sociable that creature is.
Sociable mammals such as whales, dogs, dolphins and humans tend to have much larger brains compared to their bodies. Solitary species — such as tigers, domestic cats and rhinos — have less grey matter, the scientists found.
Prof Robin Dunbar, co-author of the study, said, “It is interesting to see that even animals that have contact with humans, like cats, have much smaller brains than dogs and horses because of their lack of sociality.”
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the brains of monkeys expanded the most over evolutionary history, followed by horses, dolphins, camels and dogs.
The researchers believe that living in a group is more demanding mentally than having a lonely existence.
The study is also challenging previous research, which suggested the brains of all mammals evolved to be larger at a similar rate.
Co-author Dr Susanne Shultz said, “Dogs have always been regarded as the more social animals while cats like to get on with their own thing alone.
“This study overturns the long-held belief that brain size has increased across all mammals. Instead, groups of highly social species have undergone much more rapid increases than more solitary species.”
“This suggests the cooperation and coordination needed for group living can be challenging and over time some mammals have evolved larger brains to be able to cope with the demands of socializing.”
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Since I recently adopted a cat — I will say that although it might be true scientifically, it isn’t really that way in real life. Cats have their own intelligence, which is truly different from dogs.
And, I guess, it’s up to us pet owners to discover where the intelligence of our pets lie.
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For the folks in Alabang, Vets In Practice Alabang is now open. It is located at 102 A Alabang Business Tower, 1216 Acaia Lane, Madrigal Business Park.
The vets on duty are Dr. Lester Lopez, Dr. Jess Aychoco, Dr. Carpio and Dr. Donato.
For more information, call 842-8379 and 846-7730.