Deeper than Goo Goo Gaa Gaa

In the Sunday Times yesterday John Lui wrote a hilarious article about pet owners' incomprehensible behaviour towards their pets. In particular he wondered whether these people view the pooh from their lovely pets as organic fertilizer which can be left harmlessly by the roadside. He was also a bit offended when he followed a friend home once only to be ignored whilst his friend fussed over a pet cat. He didn't mind people posing pictures of pets on their facebook page but thinks them crazy when they referred themselves as mummy or daddy (of the pets).

Well he is referring to me although I never pose myself as 'mummy' to Miao2 in public. In the privacy of my home I am the crazy person he described when I 'goo goo gaa gaa' baby talk with her. This despite the fact Miao Miao aged 7 times as fast as I do. When she walked into my house in 2008 the vet whom we brought her for sterilization thought her to be around 3 years old. By now she should be in her early 30s,long past baby talking really. In fact in another 4 years she should be wiser than me.

That probably explains her usual resting pose, stretched and relaxed with one paw slightly in front of another whilst watching the world go by; so very different from a couple of years ago when she spent her leisure kicking and dashing after a crunched up piece of paper left on the floor. When my daughter told me that one friend's mother was in some sort of mental distress I suggested that the lady keeps a pet as a source of comfort. Apparently other than a psychiatrist couch Freud kept a dog in his office after noticing its therapeutic effect on his patients.

Sometimes when I am troubled I look at Miao2 in one of her troubled free pose or deep sleep, so safe and sound; it calms me down and helps me take a leaf from her. At other times when I want to share very deep feelings that I only share with myself in a diary, I can talk to Miao2 as an alternative. At times like these when she rises to brush against you and settles next to you, you know you have been heard with unconditional acceptance. Apparently Freud had a dog called Jofi who (from Freud's observation) often chose to be close to clients who were depressed and remained closed enough for them to touch it. It also had an accurate internal clock such that after a 50 min session Jofi would rise, stretch and walk to the door providing Freud with a smooth and natural way to end the session.

In his words Freud described his admiration for dogs for their "affection without ambivalence. And the simplicity of a life free from almost unbearable conflicts of civilisations, the beauty of an existence complete in itself."

That perhaps was what John Lui failed to understand about pets, how their "beauty of an existence complete in itself" inspires our own.