The backyard wrestling came to a quick halt when my dog and I had to sit, stay, and watch the drone hoovering overhead. Right, I remembered, the Condo Board said they would be using a drone to determine the state of everyone’s roof shingles. Pretty nifty way of doing things – saves someone going up and down the ladder to the roof of each condo, I thought. Meh, my dog thought, as he carried on with the tug game.
But it all got me thinking about the changes technology is making in our dogs’ lives. We’re starting to somewhat comprehend how it’s impacting our realities, but what about our furry friends? They will soon be left to bark at driverless cars and chase beams of LED light from a laser stick instead of a ball.
They’ve already become slightly off-kilter as we’ve sent them to doggy daycare while we’re working or hired a dog walker when we’re too tired for a bound around the park. Soon we’ll be sending them off to virtual college and measuring their rooms for automatic sewing machines.
These are just the town dogs, though. Farm dogs are a slightly different breed. Like, they’re still dogs that run behind flocks of birds, instead of getting all giddy about squeaky toys. Mind you, I’ve seen some farm dogs of late who are sniffing cautiously around GPS powered droids in their fields instead of circling around old tractors that are stuck in the mud. They will soon be assimilated.
All dogs, town and country, are going viral on social media if they’re cute or if they let people dress them in frilly skirts. Those living in more remote locations are having virtual vet appointments. And all dogs are all looking for innovative new ways to destroy our music collection, now that we’re streaming everything. No more album covers to chew the corners off of, or cassette tapes to swallow whole. My friend’s long-ago dog once had a little brown tab hanging out of its mouth which, when pulled, revealed itself to be an entire film from a cassette that was unravelling from his stomach and out his mouth with each tug. We all suggested the songs must have played backwards as the tape made its way out. Some wondered if she heard any whispered words about Paul being dead.
At any rate, whatever might be in store next for all of us, I hope it will still involve time outside and spirited games of tug. Otherwise, it’s all gone to the dogs.
Photo: StockCake