Dogs are by nature territorial...or are they? I'm beginning to wonder? Out at the 100+ acre dog park in which we adventure every day, I see almost none of that energy. The open spaces seem to belong to everyone equally. At least the dogs seem to think so. No growling, posturing, snapping or protecting turf. Even my border collie becomes borderless. Oh, there is plenty of leg lifting and decorating the bushes with their scent-filled urine, but not a single dog seems pissed off if another dog tops his brew with their own concoction.

Now there is one exception. Those are dogs still attached to a leash out there. The owners swear that the dog's aggressiveness triggers the need for a leash, but I wonder if the leash creates a "territory" that the dog now feels compelled to protect. Put my dog on a leash and he is transformed into my protector, pulling out all his best aggressive moves to broadcast to other four-legged creatures that I am his and they are not to approach. The leash creates boundaries for his territory, and doggone it, he's determined to patrol it.

So what can we as humans learn about territorialism from our canine friends?

• games like Monopoly are fun, but when we approach real life with such rigid demarcations of ownership, there truly will be winners and losers...boundaries make us possessive, self-protective and fearful of losing what we own. Our stuff begins to own us.

• sharing things communally is kind of fun, bonding and freeing! Our neighborhood has no fences between the yards and the kids use the treefort in one yard, the trampoline in another, the swingset in yet another and the entire unfenced space to stage the most incredible games of "Capture the Flag" I have ever seen!

• it seems that when we begin to fear that there are not enough resources to go around that we begin to get "grabby" about staking out our claim. Isn't that the essence of the energy that triggers wars (or relational conflicts)? Self-centered focus, be it on an individual or a national level? When is enough, enough? I don't know the answer to that, but it seems like the dogs at the dog park have figured it out. I, for one, want that commitment to the communal best so we all can enjoy the beauty and resources of this incredible planet together in playfulness and peace.