Dog Pure Awareness blog

Once upon a time my friend janet lived with her husband in a New York City apartment. It was a small apartment, but high up, the 19th floor, between Lincoln Center and the Hudson River. Every square inch of this space was chosen as part of an intricate design.

You are wondering what this has to do with dogs.

One night I was driving her husband home and Hogahn, a large magnificent Golden Retriever, was with me. In the Lincoln Center neighborhood there is no place to park, and even if there were you couldn’t leave a dog in the truck because he would be stolen. We went to the basement garage and were planning to ask the doorman to watch Hogahn while i went upstairs, but we first called Janet on the house phone and she said “Bring Hogahn up.”

Now until that moment, no animal had ever been admitted to that space. I believe that cockroaches were afraid to sneak in there. I reacted as if she had said: ‘put Hogahn in my bed so I can sleep with him tonight.’

We all took the long ride up the elevator and the long walk down the hall and Janet opened the door and of course Hogahn was glad to see her and pushed against her, squirming with happiness. Then he trotted into the space, past the grand piano, past the oil paintings with the little lights above and below so that he could observe the brushstrokes, and into the gallery center, where French pottery sat on tiny tables and flowers spread from glass vases while textiles waved in the air.

Hogahn negotiated the low tables as if they were weave poles, holding his powerful tail quite still. He paused to sniff a huge white flower and then went to the windows and looked down at the lights. Turning gracefully among the fragile bowls, he placed his paws on the priceless rug and lay down.

I looked at Janet and she was watching Hogahn, not with anxiety, not with tension, but with curiosity. She wanted to know what he thought of her space.

Before we left, she wanted to give him water in a bowl between his paws on the gallery rug. She saw him as a guest, and you do not serve a guest in the kitchen. When we left, she kissed him goodbye.

janet and Hogahn both died a few years ago. I miss them.