National Dog Day: How Our Fur Babies Teach Us Unconditional Love by Jan Mostrom
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Today is a special day if you have a fur baby. My grown daughter is home and reminded me that today is National Dog Day, which got me thinking of the love of our sweet canine family members. It's funny because before we got our first dog, Zak, I would inwardly sigh when my sister or others would baby-talk to their dogs or otherwise treat them like humans. I wasn't a "dog" person, at least that's what I thought.
We got our first puppy when our girls were 8 and 11. We had been trying for several years to add a baby to the family and had used that as the explanation as to why we weren't getting a dog. Then my 8-year-old said (with her hands on her hips), "It looks like we aren't getting another baby, so could we get a dog now?" Enter our first puppy, Zak.
We all described Zak as a grandpa. He was just 10 weeks old when we got him, and he was already crate trained and loved to nap. We had hoards of children holding him, tugging at him and otherwise bothering him and was always good-natured. He was really my girls' dog and was an easygoing one, always ready to nap and let the kids handle him in any way. As long as you would hold him, he was fine.
When Zak left us, we were devastated. We held him when he closed his eyes for the last time and one of my daughters was with us that night. She described holding him as he was put to sleep as simultaneously the best and worst day of her life. He was ours and we had to let him go.
As we mourned Zak's passing, we thought we'd never get over it. Yet we decided we would get another dog, but would rescue this one, possibly in a few months. Well, that didn't happen. Instead, we adopted Gracie, a 4-month-old (ish) cocker-mutt mix less than a month later.
Gracie is the absolute opposite of Zak, but we didn't do that intentionally. Zak was white, Gracie is black. Zak was from a fancy breeder, Gracie from our local rescue. Gracie is high energy, Zak was a grandpa from the start.
Gracie is now 5 and still flies out of the crate to greet us as if we've been away for months. She waits by the door when I leave and will be there when I return. She's not sure what she thinks about kids, so I have to be careful to make sure she's not defending the castle (that's me or the house). She loves to play, tug, run and otherwise try and get our attention. Gracie thinks that everything that happens in our house is about her! You're cooking? Must be for Gracie. You're here to fix something in the house? Must be to give her tummy a rub. She's adorable and sometimes difficult and loves all of us when we are busy or distracted or grumpy or sad. She just loves us. And, she always makes me laugh. Even though we thought we'd never get over Zak, Gracie helped us heal and love again.
I'm so grateful that I've had the privilege of having dogs as a part of our family. I do realize they aren't human, but they are loving, sweet and loyal and always make me feel better. The unconditional love they offer, I want to offer my friends and family and maybe, just maybe, that love will ripple out into the world and affect others as well.
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