I've never had a dog as a pet, and in my only childhood memory of a family dog, when I was maybe 4 or 5 years old, I'd been given the task of walking a cow to the river to drink (my dad taught high school agriculture before he joined the Army when I was 6). On my way back from the river, holding the rope that was tied to the cow, the dog stood up in front me and put its paws on my shoulders. I didn't like it, but don't remember being particularly scared, and I've never been afraid of dogs, just not interested in having one for a pet.
Almost my earliest memory was pushing a doll carriage with our cat inside it, dressed in a doll bonnet (probably the cat wished I'd preferred dogs), and all my life I've had a cat or two.
So I was surprised when I kept coming back to one of my sketches during the early months of isolation, each time thinking "It's a dog . . . no, I'm not sure . . . " until I could no longer ignore it. This totem clearly symbolizes a happy dog, kind of chubby, tail wagging, standing on hind legs with front paws about to reach out, maybe from that distant memory of the family dog putting its paws on my shoulders.
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