From time to time, people tell me, "lighten up, it's just a dog." or, "that's a lot of money for "just a dog." They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for "just a dog." Some of my proudest moments have come about with "just a dog." Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a dog," but I did not once feel slighted. Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by "just a dog," and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "just a dog" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day. If you, too, think it's "just a dog," then you will probably understand phases like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or "just a promise." "Just a dog" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy. "Just a dog" brings out the compassion and patience that make me a better person. Because of "just a dog" I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future. So for me and folks like me, it's not "just a dog" but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment. "Just a dog" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day. I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a dog" but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a man." So the next time you hear the phrase "just a dog." just smile, because they "just don't understand."
---Author unknown
I Am Your Dog
I am your dog and I have a little
something I'd like to whisper in your ear. I know that you humans lead busy
lives. Some have to work, some have children to raise. It always seems like you
are running here and there, often much too fast, often not noticing the truly
grand things in life. Look down at me now, while you sit there at your computer.
See the way my dark brown eyes look at yours? They are slightly cloudy now. That
comes with age. The gray hairs are beginning to ring my soft muzzle.
You smile at me and I see love in your eyes. What do you see in mine? Do you see
a spirit? A soul inside, who loves you as no other could in the world? A spirit
that would forgive all trespasses of prior wrong doing for just a moment of your
time? That is all I ask. To slow down, if even for a few minutes, to be with me.
So many times you have been saddened by the words you read on that screen, of
others of my kind passing. Sometimes we die young and oh so quickly. Sometimes
we age so slowly before your eyes that you may not even seem to know until the
very end, when we look at your with grizzled muzzles and cataract clouded eyes.
Still the love is always there, even when we must take that long sleep to run
free in a distant land.
I may not be here tomorrow. I may not be here next week. Someday you will shed
the water from your eyes that humans have when deep grief fills their souls, and
you will be angry at yourself that you did not have just one more day with me.
Because I love you so, your sorrow touches my spirit and grieves me. We have now
together. So come sit down next to me here on the floor, and look deep into my
eyes. What do you see? If you look hard and deep enough we will talk, you and I,
heart to heart. Come to me not as an alpha, or as a trainer, or even as mom and
dad. Come to me as a living soul and stroke my fur and let us look into one
another's eyes and talk. I may tell you something about the fun of chasing a
tennis ball, or I may tell you something profound about myself, or even about
life in general. You decided to have me in your life because you wanted a soul
to share such things with. Someone very different from you; and here I am. I am
a dog, but I am alive. I feel emotion, I feel physical senses, and I can revel
in the differences of our spirits and souls. I do not think of you as a dog on
two feet; I know what you are. You are human, in all your quirkiness,
and I love you still.
Now, come sit with me on the floor. Enter my world, and let time slow down if
only for 15 minutes. Look deep into my eyes and whisper into my ears. Speak with
your heart and with your joy, and I will know your true self. We may not have
tomorrow, and life is so very short.
Love,
Your Dog
---Author unknown
