This tale began with a deep personal reversal in my life that led to a whole new direction centered on animals. It has been and continues to be enormous fun. More than that, it has opened up a whole new world of learning.

That learning has caused me to ask if perhaps humanity has not, over time, become quite isolated from the rest of created life. We “have” animals and gardens as though they were objects quite separate from us instead of part of the whole intelligent and conscious design of creation. We walk “on” the earth perceiving through our senses and thinking and evaluating with our brains, seemingly unaware that we are a part of every aspect of our planet. Have we perhaps, over the centuries and without fully realizing it, disengaged ourselves from our innate connection with nature and the wholeness of life that is held in the embrace of the cosmos?

Perhaps our beloved animal companions are in our lives to trigger awareness of such separation, or even to motivate us to reconnect and thereby nourish ourselves by experiencing the wholeness of life. I invite you to join me on a walk through Ganny’s Journal in a spirit of open query about many of our inherited perceptions of animals. There are no answers offered here, for we each are probably better served by finding our own. However, I can guarantee you an adventure. While part of this tale shares some of what I have harvested in my twenty years of close experience with animals, some of it is told from an animal’s perspective. Are you game? Come on, let’s get started.

I would like to add that while my focus in this tale is on dogs, my intention is to honor all animals everywhere that live or work in partnership with humans. They bless our lives with their presence.