The Prodigal Dog, parts 4320 - 4323

 4320. This brings us back to the original problem that arose when Remo told Otis where Rome was, that it was a city, and that there was nothing magical about it. 

 4321. He did this because he had become frustrated by traveling around in circles, and they were traveling in circles because they kept resorting to magical and superstitious methods to determine what direction to go in. But you know all of that.

 4322. What you do not know however is the extremely limited extent of Remo’s knowledge. We have been talking about how his worldview was limited because it was based on overheard conversations. 

4323. Concepts formed by dogs from overheard conversations have other oddities we must mention. For example, Remo knew that Rome was a city, but he did not know what a city was. 

The Prodigal Dog, parts 4316 - 4319

 4316. One might want to avoid the tracing paper made by rubbing ordinary paper with turpentine because of the mess, but you can also turn the paper over, tape it to a windowpane, and trace it in reverse.

 4317. But why would you want to go through all the bother of replacing the missing parts of the pattern in an oriental rug, when the rug in question is only an inadequate analogy to begin with. It defies logic to go around repairing analogies for no apparent reason.   

 4318. What is required is a better analogy, rather than a repaired analogy, but this presents a serious difficulty. We want to describe how a dog’s knowledge, made up as it is with fragments of conversation overheard in passing, is like a…  

 4319. Here I draw a blank, and can’t think of anything to use for an appropriate comparison. If I were to suggest that the mind of a dog is like an unfinished painting, that also would not do, because the finished parts of the painting might perhaps suggest what the unfinished parts could be.

The Prodigal Dog, parts 4312 - 4315

 4312. But, on further reflection, it occurs to me that the worn out rug analogy is not very good. It fails as an analogy for this reason...

 4313. An oriental rug is a complex, but mechanical geometric pattern, and if a part were missing, one would only have to make a tracing of the missing section where it is repeated somewhere else.

 4314. It might happen that the missing part is a mirror image of the existing parts, but that would be alright because after making the tracing you would just need to flip the tracing over. For this reason it is best to use tracing paper, and not regular paper.

4315. Even if you were to use regular paper, it would be all right because ordinary paper can be made into tracing paper by rubbing it with linseed oil or turpentine.

The Prodigal Dog, parts 4308 - 4311

 4308. It is quite obvious how Remo would know all about the location of Rome, and how a dog might get there, his knowledge came from listening to countless conversations of his owner and her friends.

 4309. But conversations overheard by a dog, laying on a rug in the living room are always very limited and fragmentary in nature. If only the dog could ask questions and so flesh out their knowledge, they would be quite well informed. 

 4310. As it is, their understand of the world is like an oriental rug with big patches missing. Some parts of their mental rug are perfect, but then you might find a section where it is completely threadbare. 

4311. The rug in their mind might be so disreputable that you can see the floorboards where fabric should be.

The Prodigal Dog, parts 4304 - 4307

4304. “Rome is neither ephemeral or supernatural, it is simply a large city located due South of us, and can be reached with about a month of travel, but we will never get there using your method,” said Remo.

4305. Otis was a wolf who was not used to being contradicted, especially not by some little greyhound dog that he presumed knew nothing of the world. To Otis, Remo was simply a walking liability he was tolerating because of his talents and the Rooster.

4306. One can look at this conversation as simply a minor disagreement about the trio’s travel plans but it was much more than that. Remo was suggesting that all of Otis’ beliefs were silly, and not to be taken seriously.

4307. Even for Otis to continue the conversation became impossible, and he just stuttered some half finished phrases, and fell silent which was not his usual behavior.

The Prodigal Dog, parts 4299 - 4302

 4299. Now, he was amazed to discover that they believed completely simpleminded ideas about how to get from one place to another. What was he to think? He thought what Otis had said about Divine guidance to be idiotic, but he found himself unable to say anything about it. 

 4300. As I said before Otis was a pagan, and pagan notions formed the basis of his thinking, but as you also might remember, Remo was not a pagan, but a Christian dog. It is true that Christian dogs and pagan wolves have similar bizarre ideas about getting directions and avoiding accidents.

 4301. The connection exists because, as everybody knows, Christianity is simply a distorted and confused simplification of Pagan concepts. Otis and Remo were actually quite similar in their religious beliefs and practices.

 4302. Remo’s objection to Otis’ method of travel came from the fact that he could see quite clearly that they were getting nowhere, and would never get anywhere, because weeks went by and they were just going around in circles.

The Prodigal Dog, parts 4295 - 4298

  4295. Now, he was amazed to discover that they believed completely simpleminded ideas about how to get from one place to another. What was he to think? He thought what Otis had said about Divine guidance to be idiotic, but he found himself unable to say anything about it. 

 4296. As I said before Otis was a pagan, and pagan notions formed the basis of his thinking, but as you also might remember, Remo was not a pagan, but a Christian dog. It is true that Christian dogs and pagan wolves have similar bizarre ideas about getting directions and avoiding accidents.

 4297. The connection exists because, as everybody knows, Christianity is simply a distorted and confused simplification of Pagan concepts. Otis and Remo were actually quite similar in their religious beliefs and practices.

 4298. Remo’s objection to Otis’ method of travel came from the fact that he could see quite clearly that they were getting nowhere, and would never get anywhere, because weeks went by and they were just going around in circles.