An absolute glorious morning walk along the ocean this morning. The sun shining, the waves breaking and lots of great smells for Simon. He was going wild smelling like mad - we passed a nice fresh batch of coyote scat, lots of tracks and then Simon discovered a coyote carcass underneath some low conifer branches. I had noticed the raised hair along Simon’s back, so went over to see what had triggered this, and there lying on the ground was the body of a coyote. Interestingly, as we looped back past the carcass, Simon did not even glance in its direction. Which started me thinking about how our dog’s percieve death- too much to write about this evening. I also wondered what Simon learned from that carcass, suspecting that he knew a great deal more about that animal than I did. I suspect some of these thoughts have grown out of the wonderful book I have been reading - Minding Animals: Awareness, Emotions and Heart by Marc Bekoff. I highly recommend it. (more…)