Better Together

No politics Friday, almost.

This is Violet. She’s a mutt. The kids named Violet Violet because of the color of the collar they picked out for her when we brought her home as a puppy. Violet walks with me on the trail at the Cedar Bluffs Natural Area in Mahaska County every morning. We try to get there by 5:15 or so to catch the sunrise this time of year. If we are running a little late, we hurry. Can’t miss the sunrise! It takes us only a few minutes to get there from home and about 50 minutes to walk the trail, which is beautiful and has some good ups and downs to get a guy on the wrong side of 60 some good exercise with only a little huffing and puffing. If we run late coming home, Annie calls to make sure we are OK, and the Sheriff knows where to find us if we go missing (don’t tell Annie we don’t have cell phone coverage for most of the walk…).

Violet is deaf.

So were most of the pups in her litter, but it took us some time to figure it out. Violet responds to hand signals, but only if she is looking at you. And if she wants to.

On our early morning walk, we spook a lot of critters. Deer, rabbits, raccoons, woodchucks, coyotes, and possums. We even spooked a muskrat once. I guess we haven’t really spooked a possum. We encounter them, and they ignore us like they are the maitre de at a fine restaurant and we are riffraff.

The other day, we spooked a raccoon, which we both saw run up a tree about ten feet. It looked at us for a while, then dropped to the ground and ran. Violet chased it but was smart enough not to catch it.

Violet isn’t hard of hearing; she can’t hear at all. We spooked a groundhog out in the open the other day, and it made a beeline to the timber, loudly grunting, yes, like a pig, all the way. Violet didn’t even turn her head.

The odd thing is that since she doesn’t respond to auditory cues, for some reason, I’m particularly attuned to her primary sensory input; her sense of smell. She smells what I cannot, so when she is cued by something, and I’m not, I want to know what it is.

Notice that the hair on the back of her neck and back is sticking up in the photo. The technical term for this is piloerection. Pilo=hair, (from Latin pilus), erection=stiff, (from Latin erectus, upright, elevated).

Piloerection is the bristling of hairs due to the involuntary contraction of small muscles at the base of hair follicles that occurs as a reflexive response of the sympathetic nervous system, especially to cold, shock, or fright. It’s also called the raising of hackles. 

I’m sure that piloerection has an evolutionary function. Perhaps a couple of them; in front, it may make the animal look bigger to a potential threat. From behind, it becomes a signal to her pack. I certainly pay attention when it happens, and I am her pack on our walk.

Humans exhibit piloerections too. Have you ever had goosebumps? The hair raise at the back of your neck? Piloerections.

I only remember two times when I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise. The first time was when I was at the Marion County Courthouse, where a murderer, cuffed, dressed in an orange prisoner jumpsuit led by two deputies, was escorted out of an elevator, and I caught his eye. I’ll never forget the look he gave me. He made a convenience store clerk in Florida get down on his knees, shot him in the forehead, executing him, and then robbed the place. He was captured at the Red Carpet Hotel in Knoxville.

The second time I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise was when I first met Senator Ted Cruz from Texas.

So, on our walk, Violet and I are a team, both the product of millennia of co-evolution of humans and dogs. And, because of our differences, Violet and I are better together, just like all of us are when we are around people different from us.

Except for Ted Cruz.

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Here is a pond we pass by on our walk. It’s so surrounded by brush it’s hard to get to. Check out some of the sounds I heard about 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Can you identify any critters? You will hear me shuffling a bit and Violet walking around, maybe. Please post in the comments if you recognize who is with us in the recording.

Here are the sounds at the pond Wednesday morning, only earlier--about 3:30 a.m. Hear anyone you recognize? I think it is very different than the other clip.

The sounds change as we walk because our path takes us through different habitats.

Above is the overlook over the Cedar and Des Moines Rivers intersection. Here are the sounds we heard at this spot. Recognize anyone you know?

This is where the woods meet the grassland. I recognize one bird here, and I bet you will too.

And here is a six-second video I shot of a lightning bug walking on the ground before taking off--just because I can.

And finally, another photo of Violet!

Let me know if you want to go on our walk with us!