Sequim Gazette Editorial and Letters to the Editor

I'm not sure, but I think the whole world has gone to the dogs. Or does it just seem that way? Perhaps dogs have been in charge all along, and we're just now realizing this.

Having a dog when you are growing up is just a rite of passage. Having a dog that can hang out your window while sitting on your lap when you are trying to drive is another rite of passage (at least in Sequim).

Owning a dog when you cannot see or hear is also definitely a very positive thing. And don't you want to be one of those trainers who is responsible for grooming the pooch for active duty?

As I get older and wiser, I find that there are many, many ways that the canine corps of face lickers is capable of helping us two-legged homo-helpless species.

Not very long ago I had the privilege of meeting a young pooch who was employed as a mold sniffer. He could race around in your abode, barn, workplace, and detect mold. (I'm guessing that he would go totally crackers in a museum or antique shop.)

Now, how is it that we are just now learning all the things that a dog can sniff?

Being able to discover and pluck the roast off the counter just before Christmas dinner doesn't take any special pedigree or tedious high-dollar training, but being able to detect nasty mold or fungus as opposed to the mushroom soup simmering on the stove takes real talent.

Why that hound that sniffs under my car while I'm waiting to board a ferry isn't looking for jackrabbits or grey squirrels is a puzzler to me. Who turned him onto bombs? And how do you reward him for finding one? Does he get to eat it?

Seriously, if you reward him with food for finding bombs, what stops him from just going straight to the food in someone's trunk, skipping over the nasty tasting bomb?

And what about the cruelty issue of having drug-sniffing dogs sniff luggage all day, what with all the dirty laundry from a long hot trip and an occasional whiff of marijuana or cocaine? Isn't this kind of tough on the olfactory system?

What's a dog sniff when he gets home and needs to kick back? I'll bet a nice bowl of bland sun-bleached bones, hold the aroma please, is about all that sounds good.

When are they going to put out a line of hounds that can help us shop? Surely a dog's nose could get by all those false claims and flashy inviting pictures of how absolutely delicious something is going to taste? You could snap ole Rover to your cart and just stroll up and down the aisle until he sniffs out a suitable supper for you and the kids.

Recently I was floored to hear about a new line of sniffer pooches that are able to detect cancer. Seriously. Now doesn't that beat all. Here we've spent a bazillion bucks on cancer research attempting to detect cancer before it runs wild, and all we needed to do was let the family pet in the door?

Just imagine how differently the oncologist's office might look when this procedure catches on. And can't you picture what celebrating must have been going on in the animal shelters across the globe when this news broke?

I don't know many of the details yet, whether one dog is good for all types of cancer or certain breeds of dogs are better with certain types of cancers. It might be like running the gauntlet in the oncologist's office if you were asked to pass through a pack of AMA certified canines to let them "sniff you over" to see if you were free of cancer or not. (I think I'd be tempted to sneak in some doggie biscuits to distract them so I could go home without knowing the truth.)

I don't know why they don't have dogs stationed at the airport that can ferret out the potential terrorists. Don't we all know the intuitive senses that dogs have? It's got to be better than those poor bleary-eyed employees who get to watch monitors all day looking for suspicious characters.

All these years we've been rather patronizing to our pets, and now we finally should be realizing that it's the pooches that soon will be escorting us around as their prized possessions. Are you ready to sit out in the car for hours while your dog strolls around in the store shopping for whatever?



Jim Follis is a retired school administrator, has published two books, and currently writes three newspaper columns. Eating, drinking, and making merry are his professed hobbies. Traveling, trekking, and observing people follow not far behind.