Opening the Door

1 February 2012 | Lynn Ungar

by Taz

Us dogs know something about hospitality. People often think that hospitality is opening the door to let someone in, and asking if they would like something to drink. But for dogs, hospitality is living with the conviction that every person who walks through the door will be the Best Person Ever. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a close friend or somebody selling magazines or the furnace repair person. Whoever it is, we are absolutely and totally thrilled that they are here to see us. It’s not that we don’t have any sense, or willingness to protect what is ours. Personally, I am a herding dog whose short-haired cousins the Belgian Malinois are routinely used for police and military work. I am ready to defend my family at all times.

But here’s the thing. It seems like people are forever ready to protect themselves from things that aren’t dangerous. They worry because someone looks or sounds different from them, or doesn’t have the right kind of clothes, or might take up a few minutes of their time when really they were just playing Angry Birds anyway. They don’t answer the door with the heart of a dog, expecting that there is a friend on the other side. They assume that the door should stay closed unless the person on the other side is someone they already invited over. But who knows what you might miss it you don’t open that door?

I say that you should open the door and get a good whiff of the person on the other side. If  they’re the rare person who smells like they are up to no good, you can close it up again. Otherwise, why not open your heart to the leaping, tail-wagging joy of meeting someone new?

Taz is a six-year-old Belgian Tervuren, the companion of Lynn Ungar, the CLF’s minister for lifespan learning. While he competes in a variety of dog sports, his favorite jobs are as running companion to Lynn’s wife Kelsey and manager of the household cats.