Conversations With A Hovawart

Lucky me. I just read on the Internet a study finds "talking to your dog is a sign of intelligence." Which is good news. I am not turning old and senile after all. On the contrary. My conversations with Tilde are a sign of a sharp mind and cunning wit.

Until now I only sporadically shared some of these conversations between Tilde and me on Facebook, just in case someone pulled the "anthropomorphizing" red card on me, and on Facebook it would have been forgotten the next day. But today, I publicly admit it on the blog:

Yes, I do have conversations with that dog. Tilde.

To find out what's up and down in this, here's a quote from the scientist behind the study, Nicholas Eply, when he was interviewed by Quartz,

"Historically, anthropomorphizing has been treated as a sign of childishness or stupidity, but it's actually a natural byproduct of the tendency that makes humans uniquely smart on this planet. No other species has this tendency."

I wondered though. I talked to Kenzo and Viva before too, but why did I start talking that much more with Tilde? I found a clue on the why in this quote from the same article trying to explain why we talk not only with our pets, but also to objects like cars and plants (I can assure you I do no such thing!):

"There are three primal reasons why we might anthropomorphize an object: The non-human subject looks like it has a face, we’d like to be friends with it, or we can’t explain its unpredictable behavior. By understanding how each of these triggers work, we can understand why this tendency is both essential to human survival and intelligence."

That vaguely rings a bell as to the why but lets not dwell on it.

I only have one riddle left after finding my new intelligent me. Tilde doesn't only listen, she talks back to me. Even worse, her rebuttals usually leave me baffled and speechless. Talking to Tilde therefore remains a very humbling experience, even for someone as smart as me.

In the spirit of my new found freedom, I'll promise to share these conversations  on the blog from now on, not Facebook, although Tilde might throw a wildcard or two. Today's photo of her might speak volumes about her plans. Wish me luck. I might need it.