Every morning when I let my beagle mix dog out of his kennel, he runs past me and makes ever larger circles beyond the pen. He is not looking for a fire hydrant. With his nose barely off the ground, he finally picks up the scent of a rabbit and lets out a long bawl as he heads off down the hill toward the creek.
He has no idea what a rabbit track looks like; even if I attached a picture on the door of his kennel, he would have no clue. The scent of a rabbit is hard-wired to his brain. Not so with us humans, or if it ever was that way it disappeared long ago. We must learn by experience what smells good and what does not or what spells danger and what’s OK.
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