Blackie: The Dog That Demonstrated That There Is But One Mind to a Seven Year Old Child

“"This animal hides in your heart."
Chinese saying


In a picture brown with age: I am a toddler in a dress carrying a toy with my dog, the Boston Terrier my godfathers gave me, behind me. I don’t remember the dog or the godfathers. But the picture shows that my connection to dogs goes back to the very beginning of my life.

Later, when I was six or seven, my father brought home a dog named Blackie. At that time, my school was several blocks from home, up a hill, and across several streets. I walked to school. At the big street crossing in front of the school on Federal Street, there was a policeman who told us when to cross and when to stay put.

Until I got to that point, I was on my own. And I was petrified of some boys who lived at the top of my street. Sometimes a friend, much smaller than I was, would come down to my house to walk to school with me. Her name was Gail, and she was fearless; the boys never bothered us when she was with me. But Gail couldn't always be there.

On those days, I left the house with great trepidation, I would set off on my own . . . Blackie followed me. I have no idea how he knew that I needed him. But Blackie would walk behind me all the way to school, stay outside the school grounds, always on the side of the building my classroom was on (and he changed places when my classroom was moved to the other side of the building) – I could always look out the window and see him there, waiting patiently to follow me home at lunch time. Then, he would follow me back to school in the afternoon, and wait to follow me home at the end of the school day.

Blackie knew I was afraid, he knew to stay close to me when I passed the houses of those boys; and he knew where I was in the school building. This did not strike me as odd when I was a child: I just knew I was safe.

As time went by and I lost my fear, Blackie stopped following me to school. But, after school, Blackie and I had many adventures, and I always felt safe with him. To me, this was what a dog did because it was what Blackie did.

But now, looking back more than 60 years, and having lived with many other dogs, I know that there is a deeper connection. Blackie knew I was afraid. He knew where the fear came from. And he didn’t let me go through the fear alone . . . ever. When I lost the fear and was able to stand up for myself, he knew that his  work on that was done.

Blackie actually did more than help me lose my fear. Blackie was the first being to try to teach me about living in the moment. You see, Blackie, like all dogs, lived totally in the moment. He was totally focused on what was happening when it was happening.


After Thought: Several years ago, I wrote an article titled Picture the Behavior and Make It Happen. I never thought of Blackie and me while I was writing it, and I never thought of the deep mind-to-mind mental connection that we all have with animals. Having trained many dogs, I knew that people need to have a clear focused mind when they work with their dog. Even though I was close to knowing that connection is mind to mind, I didn’t phrase it that way. I just knew from my own adult work with dogs that we have to have a clear mind to focus on working with a dog. This story of Blackie reminds me of the real connection, mind to mind, that we have with all life.