On the Powers of the Bodily Senses: Starbuck is a good sniffer
...of the powers of the bodily senses, we see clearly and evidently that the animals are, in regard to these powers, superior to man. For example, the sight of animals is much more keen than the sight of man; so also is their power of smell and taste. Briefly, in the powers which animals and men have in common, the animal is often the more powerful. For example, let us take the power of memory. If you carry a pigeon from here to a distant country, and there set it free, it will return, for it remembers the way. Take a dog from here to the center of Asia, set him free, and he will come back here and never once lose the road. So it is with the other powers such as hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch.
Abdu'l-Baha
Baha'i Reference Library
While my son and family are in Montana this week, I have the privilege of walking Starbucks. I'm not a dog person, but I like getting my exercise. Starbucks is certainly seems grateful to be getting out of the yard, leaping up on me so fast and furious that I can hardly manage to put the leash on him -- a leash I had to buy myself, by the way, because I couldn't find where Ruhu'llah put his. I also bought dog treats. I'm such a softy. Starbucks, on the other hand, is not. He is part pit-bull, and all muscle. He's a good sniffer. But he seems vulnerable sometimes. Walking in the neighborhood has got to be distressing for him; there is a dog in every yard, it seems, barking its fool head off, even the little ones.. Better to walk him over on the school grounds, or on a trail somewhere. More serene, for me and him. -gw
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