If you are not greeted with leaping, galloping and barking when you come home, you are missing out. You’re missing out on not only endless happiness and unconditional love, but you’re also missing out on an unbreakable bond. There is comfort in a furry friend, and there is much to learn from man’s best friend.
Everyone is awesome until proven otherwise.
It's a running joke in my house that our dogs, rather than scaring a robber off, would instead want to play and cuddle with them. Complete strangers upon entering my home are initially taken back by my dogs' love and excitement towards them.
We can take a little bit of this with us every day. It is so often that we find ourselves making a snap judgement about people based on first impressions alone that we forget our perspective may change. Upon meeting new people, we should remain open-minded and open-hearted, so we can experience them without bias.
When you love someone, show them every day in every way.
The small things my dog does, like stealing my shoes when I get home (so that I can't leave again) or sleeping at the door where I inevitably find them when I have to go to work, makes every day a little bit more bearable. She loves me unconditionally, and the ways she shows her love every single day brightens up my world. When you love someone as much as my best friend loves everyone, it's essential to let them know every chance you can. Love isn't necessarily something you must always express vocally, but physically as well.
Enjoy the ride as much as you do the destination.
When someone even thinks about a car near my animals, you can bet that the animals scramble to the door, ready to jump onboard. The entire way to wherever I may be going, there are wagging tails and happy faces. No matter the length of the ride or where we are headed too, there is bellowing excitement radiating off my dogs.
We fail to recognize the importance of the journey to the finish, rather we see only the end goal. Living our lives striving for something long-term is normal and healthy, but we forget that instant gratification does not exist. We complain about the struggle of the ride there and cheer when we have arrived. Rather than doing this, we must recognize the beauty in every fleeting moment. We must live for the journey rather than the destination.
Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
Dogs are obviously free of stress because their lives are beautiful and simple. There is no overworking, stressing or thinking. There is only living. I have six dogs, and I believe they collectively sleep more in one day than I do in a year. I want to live this kind of life. If we do our best to live as simply as possible, every day will feel a little bit lighter and every night a little less long.
Everything will be okay.
When my first dog passed, he had been sick for a very long time, but my mother told me that he didn't know. He still loved to play, cuddle and spend time with us, but our time was just limited. At the end of his heartbreakingly short life, my only condolence was that when he passed, he was happy. He didn't worry the same way we did for him nor did he panic towards the end as I was so ready to. There is comfort in the fact that he left us quietly, and regardless of his illness, he was happy and OK.
In the end, it does get easier despite how it may feel. Things could be looking rough for the longest time, but they're looking up all the same. I have learned so much from family pets, past and current, but this is one that continually rings true. Dogs bounce back like it's nothing – they're back to normal in seconds. We have that capability, and we need to recognize that everything is going to be alright eventually.
