“I think of dogs, especially those dogs the woman sat watching, when I think of the universal meaning of tenderness, and not in the other way. The copulatory tie that happens when mating dogs are stuck together is necessary for the semen to be deposited into the reproductive tract. The male dog, to preserve his back, must be allowed to dismount and turn 180 degrees so that, at long last, he stands in a position of comfort until coitus is naturally completed. No one teaches dogs what to do, so they must intuit their business while the rest of us are told what to do, but at the same time they didn’t invent their elaborate sex routine. I think of it, rather seriously, as God’s tenderness: there can be no life among canines without the bulbous tie, but let’s find a way to make it easy for the males.”