The Dog

Dogs – the kind you grew up with, or own now – seldom stay with their families. They are adopted by human families instead and quickly switch allegiances. It is in the nature of things that the average dog ends up a long way from home, and with almost no connection to her original litter unless puppies are taken together. Dogs are used to moving on.

The dog sign in Chinese astrology is also mobile and can end up a very long way from the original place of birth and family. This sign finds it easy to disconnect from its roots. In Western astrology, the dog is most strongly associated with Sagittarius.

Even a dog who creates her own family (the second in her existence) may reject that as well. It can happen. There may be a dramatic cut-off point or a more subtle separation, as the dog goes her own way and family members head off elsewhere. Close bonds loosen to the point where the original ties slacken, or sometimes the dog snaps both collar and chain and is gone.

Dogs can take on a whole new country or culture very easily. Alternatively, they can remain in their own home town but spend a lot of time travelling or travelling in the mind. It’s another way of breaking free. Dogs who are also Sagittarians have a double dose of the sign. Sir Winston Churchill is one such example and he spent most of his life travelling.

Runaways who reject their roots sometimes have a ‘stray’ quality about them, just like a dog on the run, which means the world is their home, rather than any particular patch of turf. They find it easy to decamp and make a new place their own, or even to wander the world for the rest of their lives. Dog David Bowie famously went to Berlin, then ended up in New York, a long way from his native Brixton. Jack Kerouac went On The Road.

Dogs can be lifelong nomads who adopt some far corner of the world as their own and go back and forth between their roots and the new home. Alternatively, they can pursue personal lives or professions which mean a second language becomes the first language, or a totally different culture has such an enormous impact it becomes a way of life.

Family ties that feel more like chains can be easily snapped so be careful when you are related to a dog. This is one sign which can cut and run without a backward glance. Even if there is plenty of space within the family you may need to be particularly understanding when a dog does her own thing, and becomes her own person, without reference to any other relative. Sometimes it is a surprise to others when they discover a dog is related to you; dogs can act as if those ties simply don’t exist.

If a dog grows up in a town or country where there is too much restriction – too many rules, too many limitations – she will be the first to leave if she can. If this is impossible she may become a lifelong escape artist instead, always looking for the next getaway vehicle. If the getaway is inside her head, via a computer screen, so be it – but one way or another she will find a way to get out.