My family and I have always said that when we die, if there’s such a thing as reincarnation, we would most certainly like to come back as our beloved dog, Riley. I mean, this furry pooch lives the high life. She can sleep whenever she wants. When we eat, she often convinces us that she, too, should also be allowed to snack on something. My mother meticulously combs her ears so she’s always looking her best. If she wants it, she can almost guarantee somebody will pet her. And God forbid she barks, whines or looks anything but happy, because then she’ll have the whole family fussing over her. I mean, what a drama queen.
But seriously, she really does not have any life responsibilities, besides listening to her silly human friends’ lives. And she, like many other four-legged friends, performs this job quite well. I think part of the reason dogs play such critical roles in many of our lives is because they possess most of the qualities that humans wish they had. Loyalty, the ability to listen, giving forgiveness and unconditional love, and most of all, an unbelievably high level of cuteness. It’s not just their possession of these qualities, but it’s their ability to reliably demonstrate them nearly 100 percent of the time.
Dogs don’t hold grudges. They might chew your cabinets or pee on your rug if you forget about them for too long, but the moment you walk back through that door, you’re their best friend again. People, on the other hand, become angry, sometimes furious, if they feel as though an injustice has been done to them. Riley never scolds me for being too lazy to take her for a walk. Instead, she sits right down on the couch next to me. She’s really a true friend.
That’s what does it for us humans. It’s the friendship. A dog and even the occasional cat, if you’re lucky, will quickly become your forever friend. They’re perfectly happy to do anything you’re doing. If you’re going to watch TV, they’re going to sleep beside you. You want to sit outside? You better bet they’re coming along, too. Car rides? The perfect copilot. They never change the radio station, and although it can get chilly with the window down, we all have to make sacrifices in life. Soon enough, we’re not sure who could live without who.
So when people wonder to themselves how to be better, kinder, more forgiving or loving, I say look no further than to your four-legged friend for a role model. Channel your furry side next time you socialize. Dogs look at the world as one big playground. There are no limits to the amount of places they can pee, the smells they can sniff. As long as their human pals are coming with them, they’ll conquer anything. It may sound silly, but looking at the world through a dog’s eyes could show us something that we never considered before. It just adds another thing to thank our beloved four-legged friends for.
