I was in my car the other day going somewhere or other, and in the dry grass of the church on my right, I noticed a dog. The late afternoon sunlight gleamed off his thin fur coat to reveal an impressive musculature for such a young Labrador. He was well-groomed and clean, which I thought was odd for a stray. His fur was a brownish-yellow, sort of a lager-colored amber in the late afternoon sunlight.

I noticed he wore a nice leather collar, but I didn’t see any owner in sight while he ran around the churchyard, sniffing at the ground and bushes and street signs. He wasn’t acting like a feral dog, but since his master was nowhere around, he wasn’t showing the restraint and discipline I’m sure he usually would have.

I sat in my car and became entranced by this dog. Before me was pure animal. After generations of what appeared to be good breeding, he had become fast and strong – nature’s athlete. He could probably find food and shelter, though no one had sat him behind a desk for years and made him answer questions and complete hours of busy-work to teach him how to do so.

He eventually stopped his errant sniffing to look into each of the cars (I’m sure it was into each of the cars, not simply at each of them) as we drew to a stop at the traffic light on the street next to him. When he looked at me there was more than just a mere flicker of intelligence. Sure, his thoughts were canine, but they were intelligent nevertheless.

I watched him play, running back and forth, content to simply live and explore the world. He looked happy, just sniffing the bushes and chasing the birds. He had no responsibilities, no worries, no masters. He had no forebrain making him question and doubt the world or himself. I envied him as I sat there idling in my car, in traffic, on my way to work.

Then the light turned green, and I drove off. I watched him through my rearview mirror. Just as the dog was nearly out of sight, I saw him sniff at a pole, lift his leg and urinate all over it.

I remembered then that despite all of his admirable qualities, he was, after all, still just a dog.