Should I Get A Dog?
October 17, 2022
So you’re considering a dog…If it’s your first dog, there are things you need to have in place to prepare. A fenced yard, crate, leash, chew toys and a trusted veterinarian are essentials. Training resources are important so that your puppy grows into the good citizen and contributing family member you envisioned when you first considered getting a puppy. Do you have time for a dog? Potty training takes time and puppies need frequent potty breaks as well as a schedule for eating and drinking and going potty outside. A dog is a commitment for ten years or more. But there are rewards that span longer than the life of your canine friend.
I have been an elementary school teacher for 27 years. Today was my first day back at school. It was a day for the staff to reconnect and prepare. I approach this day with equal amounts of anticipation, enthusiasm and dread. My weeks of sleeping past sunrise, and seemingly endless hours till sunset are over until another school year ends and summer begins.
This new school year is full of renewed hope. Gone are the tedious COVID protocols. No more demanding “Masks up!” No more continuous disinfecting desks, chairs, tables and other surfaces with every transition. So this year we can focus more on instruction that includes rigor and relevance. This year we can focus on making meaningful connections to maskless children we can hear and see. I have fresh ideas and a more interesting and colorful classroom with objects students can touch and share. Teaching is fun again.
So today I came home buzzing with ideas, but physically exhausted. Thankfully, my therapy after a tiring day begins as soon as I enter my house. My first therapist, River, an Australian Shepherd, bounds through the kitchen as if on ice. With her slippery leaps, she folds the braided rug into a small mountain under the kitchen cupboards. Her body slides with it. She spins and leaps, hops and wags her tailless hind end. She is a wiggling, shimmying, quivering container of pure joy.
As she is spinning I imagine she was announcing, “You’re home! I have waited ALL DAY for this moment!! This is absolutely the best day of my life and you’re the BEST human on EARTH! Can I just lick your face because YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL! You don’t look tired! You look AWESOME! In fact, I think you’re more AWESOME every day!”
And she says this every single day. She has spoken everything I needed to hear.
And then I meet my next therapist, Willow, a Golden Retriever. She slowly lifts a single paw and places it on my knee. She sits back on her haunches, looks up with eyes that are deep brown pools with the crescent of white below. Her ears are folded back and her brow is slightly wrinkled. And I imagine she was comforting me and whispering, “Oh I have dreamed of this moment when you would return to me. I adore you. You are everything to me and I will do anything for you. How can I serve you at this moment? You are my favorite human. You are my world.”
Her gaze is fixed on me. She too has said just what I needed to hear. There is a caveat here, however. I believe Willow says the same thing to every human. She is a lover of all humans.
Tonight I needed three therapists. Auggie, the Standard Poodle, met me outside. He bounds with the loft and grace of Barishnikov. His movement expresses his joie de vivre. He then sits at my side with his head against my thigh as he speaks, (with a French accent), “Mademoiselle, bonjour. May I accompany you on your walk through the countryside? S’il Vu Plait? Oh Merci! I promise not to impose, but may I also call you ‘Belle’ tonight? You are so lovely. May I?”
And he walks beside me as we do chores. Never imposing. Always reassuring. He may be a bit pretentious, but he is never presumptuous. His desire is to be near. He has revived me.
This is why I have dogs. They are uncomplicated creatures. When our lives are demanding, busy, tangled, tricky, and thorny, they are not. They simply love. They love unconditionally and generously. They disarm with their unreserved, unrestricted, wholehearted acceptance. They are creatures with souls. And they always, unequivocally, know exactly the right thing to say.
