The Dog In Some of Us

The dog is known world wide as the best (animal) friend of man. Compared with other domestic animals the dog is man-friendly indeed; she serves him diligently going on errands for him and even keeping watch as he sleeps over his house and properties. Dogs has been trained to be reasonable ‘seeing’ witches and barking aloud in protest. And possessing a ‘third eye’ we are deprived of metaphysically. Dogs help investigators and detectives in the battle against narcotics; they provide intelligent clues and leads to unravelling many mysteries.

During the FIFA World Cup in 1966 in London England the cup been competed for suddenly disappeared and the British police tasked beyond their human capability as to how to recover the global diadem and save England from disgrace had to turn to police dog for solution. The dog did not disappoint as it went for the global shield where it was hidden by the organized criminals snatching it and giving it back to the authorities!

When a village hunter goes for night hunting expedition in the thick forest he takes along his dog(s) which not only acts as cover against other wild animals but helps track down wounded animals wherever they are hiding. A specially trained and well-fed dog accomplishes a task that stuns its owners. The dog like lion is an intelligent animal unlike other of their species. Give her good food, bones and quality sex then it performs beyond belief.

There is something however that baffles me about dogs. In 2002 I remember writing the BBC African Service in their Q and A programme why the dog after a bout of sexual intercourse gets stuck for minutes on end with her female counterpart drawing each other around until they are disentangled by time. The BBC wrote me back intimating me that that particular question had been treated in the past and there was no need for a repeat. Still my curiousity has remained ever since. What makes a dog sexually passionate preferring sex to bones and food? Why is disengagement practically impossible after a quick sex? And when that (breaking the hold) eventually happens why do they run for dear lives?

I believe there is some element of dog in some men. While in Benin City years ago during my academic ‘baptism of fire’ it was reported that an old Edo Chief living in Upper Lawani Street off Urubi Street who had married another much younger wife was “f**ked” to death by the young girl. They were making love one fateful afternoon and the old man suddenly collapsed atop her! The girl raised alarm which attracted neighbours; the police was called in but the man was dead. The girl told the police that she had never wanted to make love but the dead man insisted to which she acceded after much protestation of “too much sex”.

Often we heard about how some Africans out of jealousy or whatever would go to the extent of ‘working’ on their wives’ vaginas making it impossible for another intruder to view or ‘dig’ without expose! In one particular lurid incident that happened in Lagos the woman was not told of the ‘black magic work’ done to her private part by her husband so she went flirting. As the lovebirds (the married woman and her other lover) finished off a bout of sex pulling off the ‘pistol’ from the ‘hole’ was practically impossible as separation became a tug of war!

They cried out for help as the man applied more pressure to disentangle his ‘third leg’ from where it was stuck! Those who ran towards them could not offer any help as none was available; the more they pushed the man away from the woman the more the pain and scream. The husband was contacted and he undid what he did after satisfying his conscience that his wife was a flirt. He did his magic which disengaged the adulterers from each other with shame hard to disengage.

Some of our politicians derive extra-marital pleasure in turning Abuja into a romance city, painting it often in ‘doggish’ red! Transformed conveniently into a ‘doggy’ kingdom Abuja satisfies the Viagra-induced voracious sexual appetite of these men producing one sexual scandal after another which gets covered up or hidden from public view. Some of the professional pimps and ‘contractors’ use lewd blackmail and sycophancy to ‘oppress’ these randy politicians and their dependents. The big babes are not doing badly as they cruise about in their cars searching out for another ‘stray dog’ either in the precincts of NASS or the five star hotels or even Aso Rock.

I was driving to office last Monday morning when at an intersection linking my residence a crowd had gathered watching an interesting show by a male and female dog ‘wedded’ together after their sexual escapade. The male dog was barking with both of them trying hard to pull one another to their direction. Even in the middle of the road with cars avoiding shedding their blood! It was a pitiable sight though one did not know what went through the dogs’ minds as they struggled to pull themselves apart. Theirs was not any special case as that has been their sexual burden: staying glued to each other for excruciating minutes after making love to themselves.

Some men and women are worse than dogs. Some are ‘possessed’ sexually; they can hardly stand any other fun or hobby outside sex. Despite the huge global impact of HIV/AIDS and STDs humanity especially Africans have refused to learn useful lessons. Those who run after anything under the woman’s skirt find no other pleasure in life than experiencing what is ‘hidden’ therein. Sexual immorality has done incalculable damage to the marriage institution.

The modern man is fast discarding the ‘for better for worse’ marriage wedding credo preferring the very opposite with an escape route in case of incompatibility or promiscuity. While the level of divorce cases is high more and more men are now seeing only child-bearing as the importance of marriage. Contract or court marriage then becomes an avenue to free oneself from the shackles of imposed Catholic husband/wife archaic cannon laws.

Let’s face it: the dog is shameless in its sexual drives because she does not possess the kind of faculty we humans are blessed with. That is why anywhere can serve in their care-free expression of their romantic fantasies. The freedom to so behave, for them, has no consequences. But for us we know shame and experience same consciously. That’s why humans (most especially Africans) do not expose themselves when love-making comes forth. It can be done anywhere quite alright but certainly not in the open. Open sex is not a crime per se but it has come to be associated with the new age of anything goes. An age in which sex is hoarded in the open and bought.

Can man lay claim, then, to any higher moral sexual pedestal than the dogs? Perhaps no perhaps yes! Perhaps veterinary doctors may be of help here: what makes it impossible for dogs to ‘discharge’ from each other after making love? Why does the ‘thing’ get hooked? And why is it different from ours? Could that be punishment for dog’s insatiable sexual desire above any other thing? Does creation or nature has a hand in it? Does age or maturity cure dogs of their street ‘sexual lunacy’? Answers are welcome please!