Editorial

riCharD h. DaFFner, MD, FaCr

Silent Sentinel

“If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” —President Harry S. Truman

He sits next to my desk watching me. Always watching, never making a sound, even when I greet him each day, or ask his opinion. He is my silent sentinel. He is an artist’s recreation of my favorite dog Flaps (Fig. 1). The real Flaps (Fig. 2), who died in 1981, was a most gentle creature who was devoted to me and to my sons. Flaps tolerated all the things young children often do to pets, and when he’d had enough, he would get up and go into another room. After he was gone, I had often joked that I should have taken his body to a taxidermist. However, that was too macabre. Thirty years later, while visiting our in-laws in Boca Raton I happened upon an art store1 in the Town Center Mall that was dedicated to whimsical portrayal of animals. They had a display of papier-mâché animals with a poster telling the public that they could create life-sized versions of our favorite pets. I negotiated a price, sent pictures and details of Flaps’ size and six weeks later my silent sentinel arrived in a big box. From a distance he looks like a real dog. He even surprised my granddaughters when they first saw him. Fig. 1. Flaps, my silent sentinel.

Fig. 2. The real Flaps

My wife, oldest son Marc, and I met Flaps in 1970 while I was in the Air Force, when I went to do an insurance medical examination on a man who bred Weimaraners. He wanted to sell me a dog, but I wasn’t interested in that breed. “Well,” he said, “I have another dog you might be interested in.” He showed us six-month-old Flaps, a Schnauzer – Sheepdog mix, who greeted us with a wagging tail and his winning “smile”. It was love at first sight. I had recently earned my private pilot’s license and with his floppy ears, we all agreed to name him Flaps (who incidentally liked flying with me in small planes).

My silent sentinel Flaps has many advantages over the real Flaps. He doesn’t bark; he doesn’t shed; he doesn’t chew; he doesn’t need to be fed; he doesn’t need “house training”; he doesn’t need to be walked; and, of course, he will never need to be taken to the veterinarian. On the other hand, he will never greet me with his wagging tail or his smile. And he can’t be cuddled.

Anthropologists estimate that our relationships with dogs began around 40,000 years ago during the Ice Age when a fearless, but friendly breed of wolves began living with our ancestors. Ice Age humans generated a surplus of meat and bones after a successful

hunt. The wolves soon became trained participants in the hunt and were quickly adopted into the human tribes. In exchange for unconditional love, all they asked of us was that we feed them and treat them kindly2. In addition to unconditional love (see Truman’s quote above), they offer us loyalty, a modicum of protection, a willingness to be helpful (e.g., service and comfort dogs), and a willingness to please their humans.

I have owned seven dogs throughout the years. This has given me the opportunity to make some observations on their behavior that I’d like to share. First, their “smile” (Fig. 2). Dogs, like most canids share with primates well-developed facial muscles that allow them to show their emotions – joy, sadness, fear, anger, guilt. (Cats, the other popular companion animals, cannot and just stare at us.)

Dogs are pack animals. In the ideal situation the dog sees his/her owner as the leader of the pack. Years ago, my son selected a very active Golden Retriever puppy, who turned out to be the Alpha Dog of her litter. We soon discovered that she resisted being trained. So, how does one identify the Alpha Dog? Within any pack, there is a hierarchy. The Alpha (male or female) is often the most active and can be seen leading the pack in their activities. Below the Alpha there is a caste system of High and Low dogs. High dogs hold their heads up, with their ears raised. Their tails, important for non-verbal communication, are also held high and readily wag. Low dogs, on the other hand, keep their heads low. Their tails are down, and often between their hind legs.

Dogs communicate through their bark as well as through their tail. The tone of the bark is a function of their size, not their emotions. When encountering a barking dog, the tail is the key to interpreting what the bark means. A barking dog with its tail wagging usually indicates a friendly greeting. The dog is happy to see you. Occasionally, because dogs are funloving, a fierce bark with a wagging tail can be interpreted as, “I bet I scared you. Ha ha!” On the other hand, a barking dog with its ears raised (and perhaps piloerection) and a tail pointing straight out without wagging is angry and is saying, “Keep out of my turf.” Finally, a barking dog with its tail between its legs is afraid of the intrusion.

My neighborhood in Mt. Lebanon is a favorite area for walkers and runners because it is nearly completely flat. As a result, we have many dog walkers. Over the years I’ve been able to observe canine social interactions. Most of the dog walkers have only one animal, some have two. In most cases, when two single dogs meet, they go wild seeing another of their kind. The barking and tail wagging suggest they are saying, “Hey, wanna play? Huh? Let’s have some fun.” On the other hand, when one dog meets a pair of dogs, the single dog does the “dance” described above, while the pair stay calm, as if to say, “Oh well, it’s just another dog.” My theory is that because dogs are social animals, they really like having another canine partner with whom they can interact when their humans are not around. (We go off to work or to school for a good part of the day). In the years before we moved to Pittsburgh, we had two dogs, who kept each other company (and usually out of trouble).

Dogs are also capable of mourning the loss of an owner or companion dog. This was illustrated in the 2009 movie “Hachi”, a story about an Akita. In the movie, the dog accompanied his owner every day to the commuter train station to see him off to work. The dog would return in the afternoon to greet his owner upon his return. When the owner died at work, the dog would still go to the station every day in the hope of greeting his returning owner. According to the story, this continued for ten years until the dog died at the station while waiting.

My family and I observed this behavior in Flaps when his long-time companion, Murray died. Murray was a Beagle – Doberman mix, whom I rescued as a puppy from an abusive household. Murray was a low dog, whom I named because of her uncanny resemblance to a medical school classmate of mine who was a “sad sack”. The only time I saw her “smile” was when we entered her in a contest for saddest dog. She lost. After she was gone, Flaps went from room to room in our house looking for his companion. He wouldn’t eat for two days, during which time he would look at me sadly as if to ask, “Where is she?” In response, I’d cuddle him and gently say, “She’s gone (to the ’Great Fire Hydrant in the Sky’).

Flaps also had a paternal sense of duty. Murray, after giving birth to a litter of his puppies, initially refused to nurse them and would walk away from them. Flaps would pick the puppies up

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From Page 13 and drop them on Murray to nurse. To assure that she wouldn’t get up again, he put one of his front paws on her. She got the message.

Tradition holds that cats and dogs don’t get along and fight like – well, cats and dogs. Two weeks before Christmas, the year that Murray died, our doorbell rang. When my younger son, accompanied by Flaps opened the door, they were greeted, not by a person, but by a gray kitten that had been left on our porch. I knew Flaps had a kind personality, but I had no idea how he would respond to a cat. His first reaction was to lick the kitten. He welcomed his new playmate with a wag of his tail. During the time we had the cat, they only had two negative interactions. The first occurred on the first day at feeding time – the big event in Flaps’ day. We fed the kitten first and then put out Flaps’ bowl. Before he came charging in to eat, the kitten began sniffing at the dog food. When Flaps saw the kitten he stopped abruptly, walked up to her, and gently pushed her away from his bowl before gobbling down his dinner.

The second incident occurred several days later. Any time Flaps heard my voice, he would wag his tail. That evening he was lying in our den and the kitten was lying behind him. On hearing my voice, his tail began wagging. The kitten, on seeing this object moving did what most cats would do and began swiping at his tail with her front paws. Eventually, she skewered the tail with her claws. Flaps let out a yelp and jumped up to see what was tormenting him. He was surprised to see that the source of his discomfort was his little buddy. The kitten was equally surprised to find that her “toy” was attached to a large dog. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Flaps gave the kitten a lick and then they both curled up together and fell asleep.

So that’s the background story of my Silent Sentinel. Whenever I sit down at my computer, I greet him. And when I leave, my final words are, “See you later old friend.” He doesn’t respond as he continues his vigil. And yes, I do know he’s not a real dog.

References:

1. Pavo Real, 6000 Glades Road,

Boca Raton, Fl 33431 (www.pavoreal.com)

2. Norman T. Want Dogs of war?

Dogs are love! Pittsburgh

Post-Gazette, Apr 21, 2022.

Dr.Daffner is a retired radiologist, who practiced at Allegheny General Hospital for over 30 years. He is Emeritus Clinical Professor of Radiology at Temple University School of Medicine.

The opinion expressed in this column is that of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board, the Bulletin, or the Allegheny County Medical Society.

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