Pure Love
Spoiler...it's about dogs
Valentine’s day is on the horizon and it got me thinking about all the places that we find love. Recently I have had a couple friends that had to say goodbye to their dogs. Their dogs were senior and had led good lives but saying goodbye is never easy. I hope you enjoy my article about dogs - and for you paid subscribers - I have a special Valentine’s Day playlist headed your way!
Pure Love
Dogs…We Don’t Deserve Them
Jackson: The dog, the myth, the legend.
We walked up to the giant glass window inside the Humane Society and peered in. There he was. A skinny, eleven-pound puppy with white, messy fur. Terrier Mix — the card outside the room read. An attendant walked through his room and dropped snacks for him that he happily licked up. We decided to meet him.
We walked in his room and he cruised around playfully. He had a ball and so I sat on the floor with him and picked it up. I tossed it to the other side of the room and he ran after it, picked it up, and ran back to me and jumped in my lap. Well, he’s a smart little guy, I thought. We left the shelter to give it some thought and after 48 hours we ran back there. Luckily he was waiting for us. We had found our dog and so much more. Jackson.
Puppy Jackson. A rare moment where he was still.
At four months old he was terrified of everything. He was afraid of: the kitchen, traffic, strangers outside, and the washing machine, just to name a few. We enrolled him in puppy class immediately. He could not sit still and his recall was terrible. We started to get him socialized with other dogs and the trainer was frank, “You’ve got your work cut out for you with this one”. We were determined.
Other dogs got ribbons for their work and Jackson got the good-job-for-trying certificate. We didn’t care. We enrolled him in a few more classes to continue his training and socialization. We also learned dog-handling skills, tactics for holding the leash and having good walks, and how to crate train. All of this information was critical. We didn’t know anything about actually having a dog. We had dogs as kids but that was something entirely different.
We walked him…All.The.Time. He got a morning walk and an evening walk. We went on longer walks when we had time. We sat on the floor and played games with him to work on his recall and general commands. We went to the dog parks. We taught him not to bark when he’s on the balcony. We could never break him of barking at the front door. He knows how to: sit, stay, lay down, shake hands, and touch his nose to your outstretched palm. When we were in class learning all this I distinctly remember thinking, He will never learn this. We persisted and he proved me wrong.
We don’t tell him “no”. We give him direction instead: off, out, quiet. The only time I would tell him “no” is if something really dangerous was going on. It will stop him dead in his tracks. “Wait” works pretty well too if he’s trying to take off too far ahead. Dogs are smarter than some people give them credit for. Jackson is eight now and he can still learn new words. He got hurt a year ago and we had to carry him up/down the stairs. We taught him “elevator”. He knows what it means and he knows to wait for us to pick him up.
Jackson in AZ
Having a dog is one of the best things in the world. Dogs are self-less and they love you no matter what. They don’t care what you look like, what you wear, or about how many followers you have on social media. They don’t care that you gained or lost ten pounds. None of that matters. What matters is that you are present, really present, with them and that you give them love and attention. When we’re on a walk — we are on a walk. No cell phones, no trying to do something else. Dogs will communicate with you if you are patient enough to watch them and pay attention. They will listen to you too; quiet commands sometimes work better than loud.
Dogs are always happy you’re home. Happy to go for a ride. Happy you have treats. Happy to be included. They bring you back into the present so you don’t get lost in a sea of the past, the future, or in comparison to others. They give all of themselves and ask for little in return. They remind you to not take yourself so seriously. If I could have ten dogs I would. But, for now, I would do anything for my very good boy, Jackson.
Much Love & Safe Travels,
Kit