Ruby's eyes

Photo: Tracy Harris

As a human being, you can say yes with your eyes.  You can also say no, of course, and you can even say I love you.  You can express fear and disappointment and sadness and confusion and wonder, all without saying a word.

Dogs are lucky.  They can say all of those things and more.  Expressing reproach is a big one for dogs; it’s not quite disappointment, because a dog’s eyes cannot help but leave room for hope. 

I thought of this yesterday when I was taking Ruby for her morning walk.  Usually, we’ll walk about a mile, up Harford Street to Walgreens to get the paper – Ruby is a rock star there, all the people who work there know her and fuss over her every time she comes in, and on days when there isn’t anyone at the checkout counter, she’ll stand there with her ears down and whimper.  Then we walk down Broad Street and turn east on Ann Street for the last couple of blocks before home.

But yesterday it was cold enough for her fleece sweater, in the low 20’s, and on those mornings I just walk her up Ann Street to M&E Automotive’s garage and back.  We had reached the alley at M&E where we usually turn around and I gave the leash a tug indicating that time had arrived when Ruby turned to look at me.  She was unfinished with Ann Street and its myriad dog smells.  She didn’t pull at the leash without looking around, her move that says there’s at least one more good smell ahead.  She just turned and gave me the look pictured above.

There was nothing to do but relent, of course, so we crossed the alley at M&E and walked further, Ruby giving a sniff at one of the recently planted trees in front of the crystal shop and another around the side of a municipal trash bin.  Then she turned and headed back down Ann Street looking not satisfied but at peace.

I know what Ruby is telling me on those walks, and around the house as well because Ruby’s eyes are her words.  They speak from millennia of dog experience living in a world in which almost everything is bigger and more powerful than they are. 

Ruby navigates with her nose but she speaks with her eyes.  They are so easy to understand because there is a pool of love within each of them.