Unlikely Friendships - Jennifer S. Holland [32]
The dolphins appeared to welcome the dog into their world, so after that first leap his swims became routine. For a time, the Reef staff tied Joker up during feedings to keep him from distracting the dolphins as they ate. Soon the pup realized that he was welcome in the water any time but during a meal. He learned to read the aquatic mammals’ signals and “would jump in only when the dolphins were teasing him or inviting him,” says Tal Fisher, one of the dolphin trainers.
Joker became a bit of a star, and people who saw him making his daily sojourn from town would pick him up—despite his salty-dog stink—and drop him at his favorite spot. He always headed straight for the wooden pier above the water, where his playful friends would greet him.
Eventually, the dog’s owners realized Joker was happiest at the Reef, and they let the mutt move in permanently with the facility owners so he’d have easy access to his aquatic playmates. To this day, he spends many nights sleeping on the dock, ready to start the morning by barking at the dolphins as they congregate below. Then he jumps into the water to frolic with them. “They react by swimming around him and splashing with their tails,” says Tal. “They even speak to him.” How dog barks and dolphin squeaks translate across species is a mystery. But the mutually curious animals seem to have discovered a shared language in play.
{PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.A., 2008}
The Seeing-Eye Cat and the Blind Mutt
Who hasn’t wondered at the amazing partnerships between seeing-eye dogs and the people they help navigate through a dark world? Dogs are specially trained to be the eyes of the blind, and remarkable friendships ensue from this very intimate experience between two species.
But have you ever heard of a seeing-eye cat? Here’s one case, of a tabby named Libby. She was not only self-trained to assist the blind, her charge wasn’t even human—she was canine.
Libby, a stray cat, was adopted by Terry and Debra Burns of northeastern Pennsylvania in 1994. No bigger than a baseball when the Burnses brought her home, the tiny cat adapted well to her new surroundings, including Cashew, the lab mix that was already living there. Raised together, the animals got along fine, but for most of their lives they had limited interactions.
Many hospitals have dogs and cats “on staff” to help with patients dealing with a number of ailments, from dementia to high blood pressure.
But around age 12, Cashew began to lose her sight. And as the dog’s vision degenerated, Libby the cat suddenly became protective of her lifelong housemate. She’d bed down in the door of the dog kennel where Cashew slept, seeming like a devoted caregiver as the old girl napped behind her. She’d hang out just beneath Cashew’s chin as the unseeing pooch maneuvered through house or yard. Together they’d approach a food dish or find a sunny spot on the patio to share. Everywhere Cashew went Libby was there to guide her. They seemed to communicate, Terry says. “It was as if Libby would say, ‘Hey, watch out for that bench there,’ or, ‘Here’s your water dish!’” The cat also began showing up along the route where Terry walked Cashew, sometimes watching from a distance, other times padding along beside them—“letting the dog know she was nearby, watching over her,” he says. “They only got closer and closer as time went on.”
When Cashew finally passed away, at nearly 15 years old, Libby seemed to wonder where he had disappeared to, and would go looking in the dog’s old haunts. She never took to the other family dog in the same affectionate way. No other companion, it would seem, could ever replace the unlikely one she’d had in that old blind mutt.
{CANADA, 1992}
The Sled Dog and the Polar Bear
POLAR BEAR
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Carnivora
FAMILY: Ursidae
GENUS: Ursus
SPECIES: U. maritimus
SLED DOGS
The Siberian husky and the Alaskan malamute are two of the best-known purebred sled dogs, and are known for both their stamina and speed.
In the far reaches of the icy north,