The Owner went out without me today. She was gone for hours. The dog sitter and I watched some interesting and informative films. Then she returned as if she had not abandoned me to whatever fate might bring. What if the earth had frozen through some terrible climatic catastrophe whilst […]
The Owner and the Man take me for a walk in Wales. It appears that, in Wales, water does not confine itself to taps and the sky, but runs along the ground in a bold and positively challenging manner. The Owner and the Man walk along beside this water. They […]
Jeremy Corbyn cycles past us on a bicycle when we are out walking, and I lurch after him eagerly, anxious to modify his trousers to the benefit of all. The lead restrains me and he sails by unaware. The Owner says that was a narrow escape. She says that I […]
We are walking down the road when I see it. A great, dark monster, strangely shaped and looming there, on the far wall. Silent, menacing, without eyes, without even scent, thrashing about in the wind. Malevolently it eyes us, and I stop. The Moral Dog would show caution and courage. […]
The Owner says Morality is an absolute which gives rise to certain rules. I say all rules are subject to context. Morality itself, I say, is contextual. Today is a case in point. It began as an ordinary day. The sun had risen, the birds were singing, the squirrels were […]
The Owner says that there is a crucial difference between accepting that all are equal, and being obliged to treat all equally. She says equality needs a perspective. It is possible, for example, to argue that all Moral Dogs are of Equal Moral Worth (fluffiness notwithstanding) and yet at the […]
There seems to be some confusion between the Moral Dog and the Ancestral Dog. The Ancestral Dog marks out his territory. That’s how other, slightly less moral, slightly more fluffy dogs know that it is his. Within this territory the Ancestral Dog defends his Ancestral Human against all comers. This […]
It’s a jungle out there and Superdog has to be prepared for anything. Sudden changes of direction. Sudden bursts of speed. Sudden squirrels. You never know when there’s an Arch Enemy in the hedge. The Owner is unpicking bits of dead leaf from her hair. She unwraps the lead from […]
A Ghastly Pong has joined the Owner and I in the kitchen. The Owner seems to feel that the Ghastly Pong and the Moral Dog are somehow related. Moreover, she suggests, some aspect of the Moral Choices I have made earlier, possibly regarding the edible nature of compost, makes the […]
We went to Hampstead Heath and just as we got to the top of Parliament Hill it rained, she tells the Man as she takes her coat off in the garage. Did you get wet? He asks, and starts to laugh as water pools around her and runs into the […]
I don’t know why the Owner throws the ball. When I take her for her evening Walk she likes to throw it. Of course, I fetch it. I am, after all, a True Dog, in addition to being a Moral Dog. The urge to chase the ball is overwhelming, the […]
The Owner and the Moral Dog were somewhat at odds this morning over the redistribution of some items from the table to the floor. I explain that it was not my fault that her items refused to share the table with me. It is also not my fault that I […]
The Owner leads me past a pair of rats with bushy tails and I chase them into a tree where they sit, looking down at me, holding their breakfast in their paws. They are squirrels, she says. Aren’t they sweet. Sweet. Sweet? It’s a rat with a bushy tail and […]
The Owner says I should not have eaten the Book. She says she required the Book in order to digest its contents. I don’t understand this. She claims she has been digesting its contents for weeks yet she she hadn’t even taken a single bite. And how is she so […]
The Owner tells a Person in the Coffee Shop we are going to visit some Islands. She says we are going to fly there. The Owner says it will be the first time her dog has flown. She asks the Person if Other Dogs are good when flying. Clearly the […]
Hergest, a Hound's Philosophy 