dog circling / circle the wagons

[vil]

Dear teachers,

A dog circles around to prepare a safe, comfortable "next" to sleep on. It's a habit practiced by wild dogs who circled around to make sure no predators were lurking and to push down brush to make their next more comfortable.

Circling is common behavior in dogs. No one knows why, but the theory is that they "make a bed" by knocking down tall grass, padding down snow or shuffling stones off the dirt before curling up for a nap. It may be for any of these reasons, but pet dogs will circle anywhere indoors, even in their own beds. It's not reasoned behavior, but is instinctive to all canines, domesticated and wild.

circle (v) = to move in a circle.


circle the wagons

1. To take a defensive position; become defensive.

Circling can also summon a supernatural being—it is one of the commonest English local traditions that if you run round a specified mound, tree, cross, grave, church, or stone at a specified time and/or a specified number of times without stopping, you will raise a ghost, or the Devil; the condition is less easy than it seems, since running round a small object causes giddiness, and round a large one is exhausting. The circle as boundary is exemplified by the common instruction in manuals of magic to draw a circle round oneself as protection against spirits summoned, or to conjure the spirit into a circle which will confine it; more prosaically, it appears also in the Devonshire belief that a snake cannot escape a circle drawn round it with an ash stick.


I think, this all could cite as evidence of the ties of relationship between humans and animals.


What is your opinion on this matter?


Thank you in advance for your efforts.


Regards.


V.

 

[Anglika]

Dear teachers,

A dog circles around to prepare a safe, comfortable "nest" to sleep in. It's a habit practiced by wild dogs who circled around to make sure no predators were lurking and to push down brush to make their nest more comfortable.

Circling is common behavior in dogs. No one knows why, but the theory is that they "make a bed" by knocking down tall grass, padding down snow or shuffling stones off the dirt before curling up for a nap. It may be for any of these reasons, but pet dogs will circle anywhere indoors, even in their own beds. It's not reasoned behavior, but is instinctive to all canines, domesticated and wild

circle (v) = to move in a circle.


circle the wagons

1. To take a defensive position; become defensive.

Circling can also summon a supernatural being—it is one of the commonest English local traditions that if you run round a specified mound, tree, cross, grave, church, or stone at a specified time and/or a specified number of times without stopping, you will raise a ghost, or the Devil; the condition is less easy than it seems, since running round a small object causes giddiness, and round a large one is exhausting. The circle as boundary is exemplified by the common instruction in manuals of magic to draw a circle round oneself as protection against spirits summoned, or to conjure the spirit into a circle which will confine it; more prosaically, it appears also in the Devonshire belief that a snake cannot escape a circle drawn round it with an ash stick.


I think, this all could cite as evidence of the ties of relationship between humans and animals.


What is your opinion on this matter?


Thank you in advance for your efforts.


Regards.


V.

I think you are stretching your logic.

Circling the wagons is a naturally sensible defensive action since it leaves no angles for the enemy to make use of, and allows the defenders maximum coverage for few individuals. The use of the circle in magic has the same basis.

If humans and other animals all turned in circles before lying down, your logic might have a basis. But they don't.

 

[vil]

Hi Anglika,

And yet, personally I am firm belief that my sheperd dog has more makings of a human than many other two-leged antropoids which consider themselves for human creatures. ;-)

Regards.

V.

 

[Anglika]

I can think of many who feel the same ;-)