The topic of children and animals recently came up in class again and I find myself thoroughly enjoying the discussion. As I have said before, I have a 2 year old dog who holds one of the top spots in my heart. I like him more than I like some humans (species bond? I think not). I also have 2 nephews, ages 2 and 7 months, who interact with my dog on a regular basis. Crosley is a very well behaved dog to begin with, but he puts up with a lot of tail pulling and ear tugging when it comes to the 2 boys that he wouldn't tolerate if an older adult were to unpleasantly touch him. This goes into the idea that play signals penetrate the species barrier with ease. Seeing Nicolas and Jacob interact with Crosley is a real sight to see. When the boys were both young and had never been acquainted with Crosley, they immediately took to him and Crosley reciprocated the love and went as far as to "nurture" them. He would lay in front of their crib and be excitingly interested in watching them eat (which he now knows exactly who to sit under at the dinner table). Signs like this show the true relationship that exists between animals and children and prove that we all need to return to our childlike state of mind when it comes to interacting with animals.