摘 要

狗是人类历史上出现的最早的家养动物，有关人与狗的神话传说数不胜数。近年来，一些科学研究也表明了狗与人类自古以来就关系密切。与猫的神秘相比，狗与人类更加亲密并成为了人类最好的朋友，被称为“宠物之王”。许多文学作品也以狗为主题，描写了人与狗之间的各种有趣或感人的故事。本文通过阅读英语文学作品，从狗的智慧，忠诚，纯真三个角度剖析狗的灵性，从而揭示狗对人类的重要作用。通过搜集世界各文明中有关狗的神话传说，借以生物学研究和考古研究的事实证据，多角度分析了狗在与人相处中体现出的灵性。告知人类要热爱动物，尊重生命，促进人与动物的和谐共处，从而启发人类，认识狗的重要性，加强自省，消除人性的丑恶，促进人类社会精神文明进步。

关键词：狗；狗的灵性；狗的启示

Abstract

Dogs are the earliest domestic animals in human history. There are countless myths and legends between people and dogs. In recent years, some scientific studies have also shown that dogs and humans have been closely related since ancient times. Compared with the mystery of cats, dogs are more intimate with humans as their best friends, known as the “king of pets.” Many literary works are also dog-themed, depicting interesting or touching stories between people and dogs. Through reading English literary works, this paper analyzes dogs’ spirituality from three aspects: dogs’ wisdom, loyalty and innocence, thus revealing the importance of dogs to human beings. This paper collects the myths and legends about dogs in various civilizations, and uses the factual evidence of biological research and archaeological research to analyze the spirituality of dogs in their relationship with others, informing humans to love animals, respect life, promoting harmonious coexistence of humans and animals, thereby inspiring human beings, recognizing the importance of dogs, strengthening self-reflection, eliminating the ugliness of human nature and enhancing construction of ideological infrastructure.

Key Words: dogs; dogs’ psyche; inspirations from dogs

Contents

1 Introduction 错误!未定义书签。

2 Dog’s Existence in Human Society 错误!未定义书签。

2.1Mythology concerning human and dogs 错误!未定义书签。

2.2Biological andarchaeological research 4

3 Literary Version of Dogs’ Psyche—in a Book A Dog’s Purpose 错误!未定义书签。

3.1 Wisdom 错误!未定义书签。

3.2 Loyalty 9

3.3 Innocence 10

4 Inspirations from Dogs 错误!未定义书签。

4.1Unconditional love 错误!未定义书签。

4.2 Reverence for life 错误!未定义书签。

5 Conclusions 错误!未定义书签。

References 16

Acknowledgements 17

Literary version of Dogs’ Psyche

1 Introduction

Milan Kundera said: “Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring—it was peace.” (Milan Kundera, 1984:134)

The relationship between man and dog is the most dramatic in history. From mysterious legends to biological and archaeological research, dogs play a very unique role in human society. Dogs have been associated with every human society since humans appeared on earth. More than 10,000 years ago, mankind relied on dogs to help them hunt, graze and watch homes. During this period, the human established a deep emotional bond with dogs which was accepted by human communities. In recent years, there have been many studies on biological characteristics of dogs and close relationship between dogs and humans at home and abroad. Referring to foreign researches, in 2016, Dogs Recognize Dog and Human Emotions written by Natalia Albuquerque, Kun Guo, Anna Wilkinson, Carine Savalli, Emma Otta and Daniel Mills demonstrated that dogs could extract and integrate bimodal sensory emotional information, and can discriminate between positive and negative emotions from both humans and dogs. Human-dog interaction relies to a large extent on nonverbal communication, and it is therefore plausible that human sensitivity to nonverbal signals affects interactions between human and dogs. In 2014, Nonverbal Communication and Human–Dog Interaction written by Meyer Iben and Forkman, Björn investigated possible links between human nonverbal sensitivity, experience with dogs, and the quality of human–dog interactions. In 2013, The Loyalty of a Dog written by Mukai Chen pointed out that the only friend in the world who won’t desert you is you own dog. Whether you are rich or poor, healthy or ill, a dog will always be by your side. The Bond Between Man and Dog written by Jianping Li in 2018 illustrated that dogs have played an important role in human society since ancient times.

There also have been many literary works about dogs. These works have portrayed the dogs in human life from a positive perspective, touching people from generation to generation. Nowadays, dogs have become the most cherished pets. A Dog of Flanders and Other Short Stories written by Ouida tells a story of the orphan Nilo who gives his food and warm mills to the stray dog Patch kept by him. It is because of love that Patch is accompanying the poor master regardless all hardships. In A Friend Like Henry, the arrival of dog Henry brought sunshine to the autistic boy Dale. With the companionship and help of Henry, Dale’s condition miraculously improved, and he finally ushered in a new life. A Three Dog Life Written by Abigail Thomas tells a warm story between three dogs and their master, which reflects the harmony between men and dogs. With the continuous deepening of domestication and breeding of dogs, the relationship between humans and dogs has also been sublimated.

The body of this paper contains three parts. Part one introduces dogs’ existence in human society including mythological legends and biological and archaeological evidence. The second part mainly analyzes the psyche of dogs in human society reflected in A Dog’s Purpose written by W. Bruce Cameron, and the psyche of dogs will be introduced from three aspects: dog’s wisdom, loyalty and innocence. Part three summarizes the results of this research, concludes the spiritual inspiration of dogs to human beings, and reflection on how to get along with animals. Meanwhile, this part will reiterate the purpose and significance of this research.

1. Dog’s Existence in Human Society

It has been a long time since dogs entered human’s world. Transformed from fierce beasts to meek ones, dogs are the earliest domesticated animal compared with other animals which like to be close to people. They obey masters’ orders and keep them company faithfully. For thousands of years, our ancestors have recorded the existence of the dog in human history in various forms. It is fortunate enough to have huge information to know about the development of dogs in human society and their interaction with humans. Next, mythology and scientific research about dog will be presented.

2.1Mythology concerning human and dogs

In western mythology, dogs often serve as pets or as watchdogs. In ancient Mesopotamia, in the period between old Babylonian and Neo-Babylonian, the goddess of healing and medicine, Ninisina, loves dogs pretty much. Thus worshippers of her made many small models of seated dogs to please her. Dogs were used as symbols of magical protector during the time of Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian.

In Greek mythology, Cerberus is a three-headed watchdog who guards the gates of Hades to prevent the dead from leaving. There are also various images of dogs in other myths, for instance, a four-eyed dog called Garmr guards Helheim in Norse mythology, two four-eyed dogs guard the Chinvat Bridge in Persian mythology, two watch dogs which have four eyes owned by the god of death in Hindu mythology.

The tradition of Chinese worshipping dogs has a long history. There have been a lot of records about the dogs in the Classic of Mountains and Rivers. For example, a beast called “Jiao” exists on Yushan whose shape resembles a dog. It has a leopard print on its body, a horn on its head, and the sound is exactly the same as a dog. The appearance of it indicates a bumper harvest. In the chapter 14 of book Sou Shen Ji, during the period of the emperor Gaoxin, an old woman in the palace once pulls out a worm from her ear. This worm turns into a colorful dog named “Panhu” which has great power. He puts down the rebellion and then marries the princess, daughter of emperor Gaoxin. After the marriage, the princess gives birth to six men and six women. After the death of Panhu, emperor Gaoxin gives the vast mountainous area in the south to the descendants of Panhu, which is the origin of the Barbarian tribe. The scholar of the Jin Dynasty, Guo Pu, believes that the Qu Rong country in the book Classic of Mountains and Rivers is also the country established by the descendants of Panhu. The myth of Panhu is also widely spread among the Yao, Miao, Li and She nationalities, and they have been regarding Panhu as their ancestor.  

According to the records in Biography of History of the Northern Dynasties Wei Shou（Du Shiduo, 2011）,the first seven days in the first month are called respectively: chicken day, dog day, sheep day, pig day, cow day, horse day and person day. According to folklore, God created these seven creatures in the first seven days of world. This legend shows that the ancient Chinese regard the dog as an extremely sacred creature, and its status far exceeds that of human beings, second only to chickens in all animals.