One of these is Dirty Jobs, which I don't doubt people watch mainly to see the funny, sexy Mike Rowe. This guy makes me smile. He has a wonderful and at times self-deprecating sense of humour, and clearly has mastered the Gurdjieffan art of not identifying too much with what he's doing. Nothing is too gross for Mike and his curosity about what he's doing is inspiring. Were it not for television I would not know this person exists and I wouldn't have smiled as much. Thank you Mike.
The Dog Whisperer is another show I stumbled upon, with the lucky Cesar Milan. Googling around looking for an image I found this rather profound quote from Cesar:
Hmm. Exactamundo Cesar.“We are the only species that follows unstable pack leaders.”
Cesar is a humanist and what makes his show so compelling for me, is that what he is essentially doing to help apparently disturbed dogs, is getting his clients to be more self-aware, to observe their beheviour and to try to be more conscious of the signals they are sending to their dogs. He is encouraging people to wake up a bit. There is something of the Sufi in Cesar and I like that.
I am also profoundly envious of Cesar because of images like the ones below. I don't fancy myself owning or even housing scores of canines, but what a way to make a living if like me you love dogs. Cesar has plenty of reasons to smile.
Speaking of dirty jobs and dogs, I once worked as a mobile dog washer. It was without a doubt one of the most heartbreaking and stressful jobs I have ever had. I had no training and mainly took on a few shifts to help out a friend who could not keep up with demand, and who interestingly enough was terrified of dogs. Which begs the obvious question. Neither of us owned the outfit, we worked for an accountant who was clearly in it for one reason only and took no interest in her business other than owning the vehicle and the trailer. Mick (my friend) gave me a very rudimentary lesson in clipping and said after I'd asked, that if the client did not specify, to use the No.1 comb. My first client was a maltese terrier who needed a bath and a clip. Its owner did not specify. So I used the No.1. Oh dear. Once I had rendered this dog practically bald and pink, I got to the final bit of fluff on top of it's head and realised with a sort of dread, how odd this dog was going to look if I clipped off this one remaining tress. So I left it. The woman was not happy and rang to complain. She wouldn't need to get the dog clipped again for a while was the only conscience-saving thought I could think of to justify to myself that no great damage had been done.
Mainly the job was incredibly stressful because it was also so sad. Some people only got the dog washer to come to salve their guilt about their hopeless neglect. There were dogs whose coats were so matted that it was painful for the dog to be clipped or brushed. I found inflicting pain on dogs who did not understand wtf was going on eventually wore me down and on occasion reduced me to tears of empathy. One grumpy old woman had a poor old dog her son had given her for company but which she had absolutely no interest in. This lovely old dog led a lonely life under her house for the most part tormented by fleas. Mostly it needed companionship and walks, so while she was ignoring me and the dog, I would take it for a run down the street, something I was not engaged to do. But it was hopeless. She only got me to come every three weeks and clearly a once in three week walk, was not enough, and possibly made this dog all the more sad and confused. I drove home crying a lot in that job.
I did learn how to back a trailer down steep driveways and I did learn that dogs are very sensitive about their paws. But it was too much for me and at $12 per hour was barely worth it. I think I lasted about three months. It confirmed in me another quote from the lucky Cesar:
“I believe in integrity. Dogs have it. Humans are sometimes lacking it.”
P.S. If you liked this, maybe you could re-tweet?
