I’ve never had a dog. I have only had cats but I have never developed any particular relationship with them. Let’s say that I had with cats the kind of relationship they had with me, that is, that of cohabitants, or apartment mates. I guess this may horrify cat owners but what I mean is that it’s different with a dog, so I don’t resent cats, it’s just something else, period.
I couldn’t have known that a relationship with a dog is different because, precisely, I had never had dogs. I had never even had any curiosity about them: when I happened to be in their presence — because they were friends’ dogs or because I happened to be in the same place — we ignored each other.
Now I have a dog and we’ve become friends, really friends. Or at least I think I am to him and he certainly is to me. I mean, I can’t know exactly what I am to him or if I’m anything but I’d like to keep this conversation simple and straightforward so he understands me. I’m going to read to him what I’ve written and I know he’s going to look at me with those eyes that are so expressive. Without saying anything, because he can say nothing. Yet, even if he can’t say anything, he has taught me many things: about dogs, about him, about life as well. I have written them down in these months of life together because since we don’t have much to say to each other, I observe him and he does the same with me…
