Ziggy’s border collie genetics mean she dozes most of the day within a few feet of me. (I’m easy to keep track of, doing a desk job in a small apartment.) She seems content on her double-stacked bed and will lie there all day, waiting.

When friends visit or when I get on the floor and scratch her back, she becomes endearingly animated, running to her toy basket, flinging toys over her head, pretending to be clumsy as she hops sideways, dropping her toy and then picking it up again, glancing coyly at her audience.

I’ve come to realize that Ziggy is activated by affection. Something within her that was in sleep mode awakens with affection.

I wonder if that is true for all creatures. Does affection enliven us —quicken our breath; give us spurts of frenetic, friendly energy; make us silly; reveal another part of our personality; allow us to wiggle with delight?

I hope so.