Recently, my family and I had to make the choice to put my dog, Blaize, to sleep. She was ten years old, and had developed skin cancer that was spreading all over her body. She was my best friend and I miss her terribly. There are things you can tell dogs that you can't tell people. Blaize knew all my secrets, and stuck with me through my awkward middle school years, all of high school, and my first year of college.
I taught Blaize how to sit, lie down, stay, and walk properly on a leash. I potty trained her and taught her not to bite at people's toes. However, as much as I taught my dog, I never expected to learn anything from her. There are several things that my dog taught me over ten years of companionship that I don't think I could have been taught nearly as well by even my parents.
1. Patience
Teaching my dog to walk on a leash was a pain. Blaize was really into chasing birds for the first few years of her life, and whenever she was within 40 feet of any sort of feathered animal, she would freeze. For most of my family's life with Blaize, we lived near a canal in which ducks swam most of the spring and summer. When I would walk her down by the canal, Blaize would watch the birds, completely rooted to the ground, no matter how hard I tugged on her leash. Eventually, Blaize got past her bird fascination and walked normally, but it took a lot of walking. People tend to get stuck on things in the same way. It may not be a fascination with birds, but often it is an idea or opinion. Having a dog taught me that I have to be patient with people who are stuck on ideas or opinions, even if I don't believe they're right. Most of the time, that means I need to continue to gently tug on the proverbial leash until they begin to move forward, but sometimes, they just need to be let go for a little while so they can chase the birds.
2. Responsibility
Every parent who gets a dog for their child says the same thing -- I'm doing this so you learn to be responsible. I know that when my parents told me I would be responsible for Blaize's well being, I rolled my eyes, because, obviously I was going to take care of my dog. What I didn't realize at ten years old, however, was how much responsibility owning an animal actually is. Dogs depend on their owners to feed them, give them fresh water, clean up after them, bathe them, brush them, and give them exercise. All that adds up to a lot of work. Looking back, I developed my early feelings of responsibility by taking care of my dog. I learned that there are consequences to my actions, and therefore, consequences to not being responsible. If I didn't feed my dog, she would starve. If I didn't walk her, she would dig holes in the backyard out of boredom, or chew apart my stuffed animals. I carried that sense of responsibility with me. I learned that I needed to do my homework on time, and respond to emails within a timely manner- even when I didn't particularly want to.
3. The Value of Relaxation
Blaize spent a lot of time asleep, particularly toward her last few years. I have started doing the same. There is always time for a nap, or to lie in the sun. If my dog can do that all day, certainly I can rest for thirty minutes. I spent a lot of my early teen years lying in the grass in the spring, tanning my skin while my dog lay next to me, sniffing at my face and sneezing from the fresh cut lawn. Because of my dog, I will always be able to take a break, a nap, or eat a snack without feeling like I have something more important to be doing. I will never feel guilty about taking care of myself.
4. How to Love Someone Unconditionally
My dog taught me that love doesn't just include loving the good things about someone, but the not-so-pleasant things as well. Blaize never learned how to fetch. I threw tennis ball after tennis ball across the yard as she stared blankly back as if to ask, "What do you want me to do with that?" I eventually learned to accept that Blaize and I would probably never spend hours playing fetch in the backyard, just like I learned to accept that she would probably never stop eating trash and always bark at random hours of the night. I loved her anyway, because those things were part of who she was. Besides, Blaize always loved me for who I was.
I've started treating people better because of my dog. I've learned that their flaws are a part of them, and that's wonderful. I'll never get to see Blaize again, but there will always be parts of her that I take with me, both through the fur still covering my clothes and what I've learned about myself and others along the way.
