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A dog teaches us fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down

While I suppose it makes sense that we each see the world through our own eyes and in the light of our own experiences, a rose by any other name should still smell as sweet… shouldn’t it? And given the long line of common ancestors it needn’t come as a surprise that our brains might also still share many other commonalities with the animals that surround us. It is likely only our human conceits, and overweening pride which prevents us from seeing the obvious; I refer, of course, to neurodivergence in dogs.

Depending on where your seat is on the Bell Curve, everything is relative. If you have difficulty in crowds, or stand in a quiet corner at parties (if you’re even invited) it might make sense that your dog would acquire some of your idiosyncrasies along the way.

When I was a child, my dog was a quiet one; in fact, he liked nothing better than for me to visit him in his kennel outside the back door when my parents had their friends over for a couple of tables of Bridge. Cards are noisy games: a lot of laughing followed by malevolent stares from the wife if her husband bids incorrectly. It was easy for me to sneak by them.

Boots -that was the dog’s name, for some reason- normally slept in our house except when it was full of guests; I suspect he thought he was being punished when they arrived; pandemonium, confusion, and noisy guffaws he learned, were beyond the Pale for him.

Loud noises usually made him scratch at the kitchen door to be let out and tethered to the chain that attached him to his little house -a devil’s bargain because the chain was also a punishment for him, I suspect. I was small in those days, and the two of us could snuggle quite comfortably in the dog house in the back yard my father had built.

In those early years of my childhood, I’m pretty sure none of us had ever heard of neurodiversity, or autism -although the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler apparently coined the term autism in 1911 to describe a symptom of schizophrenia, which he characterized as a withdrawal into a private world of one’s own. Post war Winnipeg, however, had other things to attract our attention, like black and white TVs, shiny new refrigerators, and pastel-coloured cars to preoccupy adults between Bridge games.

The term Neurodiversity, was introduced by the sociologist Judy Singer somewhere around 1998 to describe anyone whose brain functioned differently from dominant societal norms.  As far as I can remember though, the idea of autism, or neurodivergence had not yet penetrated the bowels of the Reader’s Digest magazines which, in the 1950ies, lived in innocence on the little rack in our bathroom. It was a simpler time, eh?

But the seasons shuffled past heedless of my attention so it is a different century in which I find myself now retired. And, the reading material I depend on for my bathroom is largely poetry and even more thought-provoking; it is also designed to be portable from room to room to avoid embarrassing stares from guests during their rare visitations.

At any rate, the idea of neurodivergence in dogs had never really occurred to me until I saw the dog portrayed as the frontispiece of an essay in an app on my phone; I thought I’d use it for my essay to pay homage to the article. Although admittedly a different breed, it reminded me of my childhood friend Boots -something about its eyes, I suppose.[i] To say that I was curious, understates it considerably. ‘Animals cannot directly tell us how they perceive the world, or answer typical diagnostic questions. We can only ever describe animal behaviour through the lens of our own understanding… However, research indicates that a range of species including  dogs, rats, mice and non-human primates can show genetic and behavioural signs of neurodivergence. For instance, structural differences in genes known to be associated with hypersocial behaviour have been found in dogs.’

‘Impulsive behaviour in dogs is also linked to low levels of the neurotransmitters  serotonin and dopamine. Imbalances and difficulty in regulating these neurotransmitters may also be associated with ADHD in people, and is often characterised by impulsivity. This also raises the interesting possibility that by breeding animals to live alongside us, we selected animals with behaviour similar to what is reported by neurodiverse people.’

‘Some beagle dogs have a mutation in a gene called Shank3, which is  linked with autism in humans and often characterised by difficulties in social interactions. Beagles with the Shank3 mutation also exhibit low desire to interact with people.’ Perhaps I have that gene as well, because I seldom have much desire to interact with beagles… I have never been tested, however. And anyway, a lot of those beagles end up in rescue shelters I would imagine, eh? I’ve learned to be careful.

Too careful, perhaps; I live alone now but although I share my house with mice and sundry other shy things that leave gifts for me on the counters I have to wipe each morning after my shower, they are not enough. I long for something I can name and take on walks with me through the nearby woods; I yearn for something which doesn’t hide when they hear me stirring from my bed; something clever enough to avoid the peanut butter traps in the kitchen; something whose eyes do not have to peek at me from me under the fridge.

I suppose that’s asking a lot from a relationship, though -it didn’t work with my wife; she tired of wandering through the forest in the rain with me. But we’re all different I guess; it’s why octogenarianism comes in different flavours. So does loneliness.

I need something to fill my days, not my bed anymore. I need a companion, not an argument; a friend, not a competitor. Those days are over for me, I think. I suppose what I am hoping for is neuroconvergence in a friend; someone who is happy to follow my lead, or in case they are on a leash, happy to lead me.

Things must change if you want to age-in-place however; things have to be acceptable. Dogs are like that: they’re as happy to lead as well as follow; to teach as well as listen. And in a warm summer meadow, I know I’d be quite happy to turn around three times before lying down in the grass beside my dog…

[i] https://theconversation.com/autistic-dogs-neurodiversity-in-our-pets-and-what-it-might-mean-for-us-265888

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