Reactions to Pain

I know that each animal is unique and that it is highly unlikely that the new animal you adopt will be anything like your previous animal when it comes to their personality.  I know this - and yet I still find myself surprised at sometime of the differences between Kino and my previous shepherd, Lucky.

For instance, Lucky was not very affectionate and did not give kisses while Kino will give me 20-30 kisses a day, whether I want them or not.  :-)  Lucky was rather independent and was happy to hang out in another room when I was home.  Kino on the other hand is glued to my side from the moment I get out of bed in the morning.  I have accepted the fact that if I am going to do the crossword puzzle or respond to emails, I will be doing it with his head in my lap.

Their reaction is pain is also the complete opposite, but not in the way you might expect.

When something hurt Lucky, whether it was a bee that stung her or she bonked her head on the table, she would immediately run to me to "make it better."  And fortunately for both of us, my instinct is to comfort and nurture, so I felt competent to help her when she was hurt.

When Kino gets hurt, he gets mad!   Initially I hear a yelp, i.e. if he runs into something or steps on something that hurts his paw, but then he begins growling and hopping around, usually grabbing a rope toy and flinging it about with such force that I fear he is going to make holes in the walls or knock himself out.  Even more interesting is that he will not let me touch him. In the beginning, if I tried to help him, he would attempt to bite me.  Fortunately, he doesn't turn on me anymore but still if I try to touch him or ask him to show me what hurts, the frenetic rope swinging lasts even longer.  It is a real challenge for me to sit back and do nothing when he has hurt himself since it is the opposite of my natural instinct.

I find his reaction so curious and I also believe that everything has a purpose.  Maybe I am meant to teach Kino that it is safe to let people help him when he is hurt.  Maybe he is meant to teach me that it's OK to back off and let people work things out themselves.  Who knows, maybe it's both.  It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.