Thoughts On Banning Jumps Racing

(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

But we still have not gotten to what is so good about being first across the line that will give the dog an incentive to try.  Nobody can know for sure at the moment exactly what the reason is, but I believe it may be linked to the flash of the photo finish camera.

Something about that sudden flash of very intense light may stimulate some pleasure center in the dog's brain.  If you have ever seen a child mesmerized by flashing lights or wondered why ever so many animals become roadkill victims as they stand in the road staring fixedly at the headlights swooping toward them, you are seeing this principle in action.

Here is an experiment you can try.  Find an incandescent light bulb ( fluorescent lights are not intense enough), plug it in and switch it on.  Look at it for about ten seconds while blinking rapidly, then look away and shut your eyes.  You should notice a strange effect where you see a glowing shape moving across your eyeball toward your nose and then jumping back to the edge again to start over.  It will do this for some time. 

There is a very complicated scientific explanation for how this works, which deals with stuff like rods and cones and something called  "visual purple", but I won't weigh you down with all that here.  If anybody is interested in the details I would be happy to discuss it with them later (drop me a note and I'll get back to you).

Anyway, the effect that you get is slightly similar to what you get if you spin around with your eyes shut and then open them, but nowhere near as intense, of course.  You may have noticed that children love to do this!  Why?  I suppose for the same reason that some adults like to drink alcohol. 

It is almost like there is some part of us that is aware we do not belong in this rigid and harsh reality; that yearns to be free in a fluid soup of universal energy.  The urge to slightly disengage our physical control mechanisms seems to be very strong amongst humans, and there are indications that other animals may share this trait with us.

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