Unwavering Friend w/ Dr. Chris Blazina

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The History of Renowned Men & Their Dogs

About The Episode

To Note: Chris Blazina is a returning guest to the show. Click here to listen to his first appearance.

After being a professor and researcher for 20 years, Dr. Chris Blazina realized he wanted to pivot to focus on studying the psychology of male clients. Within that, he realized the importance of animal companions – especially dogs – for men.

While this bond, of course, doesn’t belong exclusively to men – it is significantly impacted by how boys and men are raised and socialized in places such as North America. This includes playing a role in how it can not feel safe, even having a fear, to connect with other people – even despite wanting to form those connections, as we’re hard-wired to. As a result, sometimes men find that in non-human companions. Dogs can teach men to improve their relationships with others, teach that there are bonds in life that are trustworthy, and overall open up their hearts to being receptive to that connection.

Dr. Blazina’s new book, One Unwavering Friend, is an extension and reflection of this concept. Drawing from his research over the years, and his understanding of the idea from personal and professional experience, he looked at a collection of 20 notable men from the past 200 years and their stories. While some were successful in lots of ways, sometimes their relationships were less than successful – which led to their relationships with dogs having a significant impact on their lives.

Examples From The Book
Charles Darwin, naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to evolutionary biology
Darwin lost his mother, with whom he was close, at only 8 years old. However, the rest of his family declared they were never to speak about her again. As a result, Darwin grew up never fully processing this loss. And whenever he had another loss in his adult life, like with his own daughter later, he struggled. But he did have a mother figure come back into his life, in a way, through Polly, his dog. She had lost a litter of puppies of her own, so she transferred her maternal love to him instead. In writing his final books, he published The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals as his third major work of evolutionary theory – all with Polly by his side as he wrote and pondered these important questions of both his emotions and hers.

Charlies Dickens, writer best known for works such as A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations
When he was 12 years old, the rest of Dickens’ family – his parents and sister – were taken to debtors’ prison. Dickens was left on his own and had to work a job to try to buy them out of debt, so he was putting in hours at a boot blackening shop and setting aside money. Eventually, a relative’s inheritance allowed the family to get out. However, his mother forced Dickens to keep working there for another year. He never forgave her. It led to several dysfunctional relationships with women in his life – including with his eventual wife, Catherine, with whom he had 10 kids. In the period after their separation, Dickens went on one of his famous walks, where he would think about his stories. This time it was a very cold day. After a few miles, he realized he had frostbite and could only walk so much more. But as if a miracle, Dickens eventually saw his dogs coming towards him in the woods. The two dogs went on both sides of him and assisted to make the journey back home. After having a history of people letting him down, it was a healing and emotional experience for Dickens to have his canine companions make it through this tough moment. He had finally found his unwavering friends.

Sigmond Freud, neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst.
Freud had a dog as part of his family as an adult. He would even send messages to his daughter through the guise of the dog, and her back to him. Unfortunately, however, loss was on the horizon. In the 1918 influenza pandemic, both his daughter and grandson passed away. Around the same time, he was diagnosed with cancer of the jaw and had dozens of operations – eventually leading to a prosthetic jaw. From the pain of loss and physical insecurity, Freud devised the well-known psychoanalysis setup of having his patients sit on the couch and he sat behind them. But many may not realize that a dog also played a role in his process. His dog would vet potential clients for him (based on their reaction), sit on their own dog couch during their discussion, and then get up at the end of the time on their own sensitivity to alert everyone that the session was over. While Freud had shared with one of his colleagues that he wasn’t sure he could love anymore, he found a deep tenderness with dogs that he wasn’t able to share with other people.

About The Guest - Dr. Chris Blazina

Dr. Chris Blazina is a licensed psychologist and author based in New Mexico. In his practice, he eventually gravitated to focusing on male psychology in particular. He came to recognize the importance of animal companions in the lives of men, especially dogs. As an author, Dr. Blazina has written books such as: When Man Meets Dog, Men and Their Dogs, Clinician's Guide to Treating Companion Animal Issues, The Psychology of the Human-Animal Bond: A Resource for Clinicians and Researchers, and his latest One Unwavering Friend.

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