{"id":1547,"date":"2026-06-13T12:33:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T16:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1547"},"modified":"2026-06-13T12:33:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T16:33:59","slug":"during-dark-times-i-talk-to-my-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1547","title":{"rendered":"During Dark Times I Talk to My Dog"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-1.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1548\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-1.png\" alt=\"\" title=\"image-1-png\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1548\" srcset=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-1-45x45.png 45w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We all do, don\u2019t we? At least those of us who have dogs and respect their uncanny skills in navigating human society. Our dog companions always make us feel better.<\/p>\n<p>Think about it. Observations about dogs are always positive: dogs are always happy to see us, dogs understand our moods, dogs make us feel better and calm us during times of stress, dogs are friends for life, in sickness and health, dogs love us unconditionally, dogs are loyal, dogs befriend us, protect us and never abandon us, dogs ask for little yet give their whole being to us without reservation. Just for kicks, see if you can make a similar list for people.<\/p>\n<p>This is why I have always talked to my dogs. They are a constant in my life and provide a refuge from the absurdities of people. The very being of dogs gives pause to the exigencies of the human experience.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, given the awful state of American affairs, I\u2019ve increasingly gone to the dogs. I\u2019d like to think that if the dogs had taken over in Orwell\u2019s <em>Animal Farm<\/em>, things would have been different.<\/p>\n<p>Poodles courtesy of Roger and Ann Hardin, The Colony, Texas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We all do, don\u2019t we? At least those of us who have dogs and respect their uncanny skills in navigating human society. Our dog companions always make us feel better. Think about it. Observations about dogs are always positive: dogs are always happy to see us, dogs understand our moods, dogs make us feel better&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-robert-fischer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>During Dark Times I Talk to My Dog - Potlatch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1547\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"During Dark Times I Talk to My Dog - Potlatch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We all do, don\u2019t we? At least those of us who have dogs and respect their uncanny skills in navigating human society. Our dog companions always make us feel better. Think about it. 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