10 Things I've Learned from My Dog

Written blog is the 'condensed' version of the Video; ;)

Has your pet taught you more than you have taught them? Here’s a great article I read today;

Ten Things I've Learned from My Dog;

~Let Your Loved Ones Know You Love Them

When we're hanging out, or driving in the car, my dog loves to check out the scenery. Play with Dino or Monkey (her favorite toys) sometimes play tug of war with me, stick her head out the window, run around like the puppy she is. But then every now and again she'll pass by me and stop and lick my elbow, knee, tummy, or ankle. Basically the first body part she sees, whether the skin is exposed or not. Doesn't matter. She just gives me a lick and moves on.

(Dogs are totally uninhibited in their affection, and I wish I could be more like that.)

~There is adventure all around you.

My dog can turn a backyard into a wonderland amusement park. There are things to chase, smells to track, there's a compost pile that basically acts as a coal pit that needs mining for a diamond.

(No detail of life around a dog goes unnoticed or unappreciated; upon a dog no detail is wasted. The attempt to appreciate everything around us--and be wildly excited by it--is absolutely transcendent)

~ Don't be afraid to ask for what you want.

Hungry? Let someone know. Have to go the bathroom? Rock it. Want attention? Butt people in the leg until they pet you into a love-loves coma. Dogs make it obvious their wishes and wants, and they make it increasingly more obvious until their desires are satisfied. Not that they are totally bull headed or stubborn about it--they submit to the leader, who essentially decides if they will be fulfilled or not.

(Humans have to be the puppy and the dog owner both; we experience the desires and decide how to fulfill them. As much as we need to balance our desires, we also need to be more vocal about what we need in our everyday life)

~Always be curious.

Lucy loves to climb the counters and eat anything she can get her nose into. Now, this means she's eaten raisins and mouse poison, but she's also gotten her fair share of treats and goodies on the sly.

(Dogs know to try everything; it might land you in the hospital, it might get you a treat, but taking chances is always worth the risk)

~Enjoy the simple things

My father's dog literally runs in a happy circle every time she defecates. Lucy sleeps and relaxes with happy abandon. Eating a meal is a highlight of the day, and a walk in the park is just as good as it gets.

(Dogs really know how to appreciate the most basic things in our lives)

~Trust your instincts

Bella--my father’s dog--can hear the door open (it chimes) and then she tenses up, and starts barking until one of the humans recognizes the entering person. And despite being a puppy, she has a biiiig bark. Lucy starts to growl any time someone she doesn't know comes too close to the car when we're inside it.

(Dogs blend their instincts with social cues and act based on those two things alone. It may not be polite, it may not be correct, but they think of who and what they love above all else. Trusting your instincts is something everyone needs to do)

~Trust your loved ones.

Dogs have an innate and infinite trust in their owners; once a bond develops between a dog and another person, it is forever and takes a lot to break.

(So once you choose someone, a loved one, a friend, once you put your trust in them, let it be infinite)

~Greet people like you haven't seen them in a million years.

Dogs do not pull punches. They feel something and they let it show. So whenever my dog sees me, she flips out and starts wagging so hard she shakes, and licking everything she can get her tongue on.

(It makes me feel so loved, so appreciated. I'm trying to greet people like that, with genuine excitement, and real love. You'd be amazed at the response you get)

~Assume that everyone adores you.

This sounds conceited, but it's essentially the recipe for confidence. Assume that no one is immune to your cuteness and your charm overcomes all obstacles, and people will begin to believe you.

~Spend as much time as you can with the ones you love.

Let’s be honest, dogs like to be in the center of the action--and at least mine likes to be the center of attention. But she's happy as long as she's with her family--nothing is more important to her.

(Maybe we all need to reprioritize like a dog does)

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I thought I’d include our pets in the life lessons we receive. The pets I have had in my life taught me to stop and smell the flowers. I hate when I see pet owners pull their dogs on their entire walk. What’s the point of having a pet if you can’t enjoy time with them?

Wondering who the next critter will be to show me something in life,

Karen :)

“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston Churchill

Waxing Philosophical and Puppy Love

“Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have - life itself.” ~Walter Anderson

You know you are getting older when you hunger for knowledge the same way you did as a kid. I had a (dare I say) very large portion of my life where I didn’t want to learn anything. You know, somewhere between 13 and 25? Now, I have learned tons from people in that age bracket so I won’t say all people in that age group are know-it-alls, it’s just an age where you probably have the tendency to think you have it figured out IF that possibility should arise. ;)

(perhaps in 10 years from now I will learn that I was being condescending right there...lol)

I was always taught by my Mother to read for joy. Mom presented books to me as though they were a candy store selection. She would assist me through Shakespeare and would encourage me to not be so intimidated. She would point out phrases that she thought were silly, funny or pretentious and would always say, “What a ridiculously spectacular time these people lived in”. Mom was the ultimate people-watcher, non-judgmental and ecstatically marveled at human nature with an infectious laughter. Her nose was always in a book and I was envious of how she could read when a storm was going on around her. She viewed it like a fantasy or an escape from reality. She simply loved to read.

Teachers taught me to read so I could “get ahead” in life. It was imperative that I not be left behind with just the illiterate but also the uneducated and lazy. “You will never amount to anything in this life without reading everything!” My Mother would also laugh at them and shrug it off.

Well, thankfully I do like to read because without Mom’s enthusiasm, I would probably have been turned off the teachers’ presentation.

The quote I started with is a phrase that for some reason shows its face to me at every corner. Maybe it’s like if our favorite animal is a dog, we look for them everywhere in the city. (oh no, not speaking from experience…hahahah) Maybe the quotes, phrases and words that are directly corresponding to our situation pop a bit more because we look for them. Perhaps unlike the puppy love, we search for an answer to our misfortunes. (or IS getting a puppy the answer to my, er I mean OUR misfortunes?)

It’s like when you are going through something difficult, you want to hear a friend say what you already know to be true…just a stronger opinion that will guide you to doing what your gut already knows. The quote above comes to me so often, I wonder if I am supposed to just put it on my fridge. Maybe I should rearrange the words like those magnets and see if it’s telling me something else. Or quite simply, it may just be something I need to hear over and over and over…

Storm-proofing may sum up most of my life so far. Preparing my character may absorb more time than anything else. I am reaching a point though where I am rather enjoying it, much like how Mom would have presented it. I’m becoming like a scientist eager to see how it’s going to play out (or is that more like a child?) It’s good to know (like Mr. Anderson suggested) the reality is that bad things happen and how I react is the issue, not the incident itself.

‘Immobilized’ is a key word in his quote. Exactly how does a person move ahead without being mobile? That seems like a silly question, right? Something’s broken…it won’t run! If you peel back all the layers, you’d find out that is trickier for most people when the answer is apparently simple! Maybe because none of us are auto-mechanics. We don’t have the knowledge required to fix what’s under the hood.

I have known for a while now that it’s the reaction which is crucial, but this man was definitely right in one part of the quote for sure. We are able to CHOOSE. In my many, many readings of it, I just nicely recognized that the most significant part is “choose to rise”. We may not have the means right now to change a grave situation, but we are ALWAYS able to at the VERY LEAST choose how we deal with it and how we react to it. (which I do believe the VERY LEAST, becomes the VERY MOST) ;)

Isn’t still having the ability to choose one of life’s most amazing gifts? We aren’t robots! We are loved! We can still choose. I believe the fact that we are given this present is the ultimate reward.

Thank you Mom; for distracting me from the educators who could have turned me off of reading. I don’t know what I would do without my love for words.

Eagerly awaiting the next life lesson…who knew learning could be so fun?

Karen :)

I also love this one by him too;

“Our lives improve only when we take chances - and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.” ~Walter Anderson

OOOOOH check this afterthought ….Ok, back to the puppy thing, how about this, Puppies do not bring happiness, I will bring THE PUPPY happiness. Someday…everything I have learned will culminate into making some unfortunate little puppy-pauper the KING of my castle. :)

How is that for the meaning of life? ;)