The Love of Dogs

I think one of the most important lessons my dogs taught me is to live in the moment.

Telling someone to "live in the moment" is similar to telling someone to "buy low and sell high". Easy to say, but very difficult to implement. Dogs, however, make living in the moment seem easy, because that is what they naturally do, every second of the day. My dogs help me stay connected to the world around me and provide me with a fun and sometimes very demanding activity to take my mind away from my troubles.

My dogs remind me to laugh many times every day. My Shiba has this one move where he puts his head down on the ground with his butt sticking up in the air - it is just too precious. He thinks it is such a great "move" that he does it all the time. Sometimes he flips over and lands on his back. Dogs have so many goofy antics that you cannot help but laugh.

"Remember, men need laughter sometimes more than food." ~~ [Anna Fellows Johnston]

• Dogs share a bond with us that is difficult to replicate with people because they have a natural sense of empathy, and can easily sense emotions, however slight, in their humans. Thus while your life partner may be oblivious to your troubles, your dog will come over and put his head on your lap.


• Dogs also spend much of their lives observing us; our mannerisms, routines, and quirks. They probably understand us better than we understand ourselves.


• Dogs communicate better. They don't say yes when they mean no and vice versa. With a dog you always know where you stand.

The reasons why dogs are so much better than people are never clearer than when I am walking my dog. There are always lawn-Nazis around who shout and scream at us, and chase us off their lawns. There are people who leave their dogs running loose in the neighborhood, not caring if a car should hit the dog.

Perhaps if we spent more time with dogs, some of their better nature would rub off on us.

I am privileged to share my life with a three-legged Siberian Husky called Shania.

She had a congenital deformity called radial head luxation, i.e., the bones on her left front leg were misaligned and she was unable to put weight on that leg. This condition is rare, especially for a Siberian Husky, and we were never able to determine its cause. We speculate that it may have been from birth trauma, since she was a c-section puppy. We had hoped to correct the problem with orthopedic surgery, but unfortunately, there was too much cartilage damage in the joint, and the surgeon recommended amputation.

It was a shock when she came home with three legs and a BIG bandage around her torso. Shania recovered quickly from the surgery and is now a happy, bouncy, somewhat spoilt member of the family. The most striking thing about owning a tripod dog is that people seem to focus on it so much more than dogs. Shania is very well adjusted and gets along with all the dogs that she meets. They treat her just like any other dog; whereas people often view her with sadness and pity.

Three legged dogs often live very happy lives and I imagine they don't worry much at all about their disability.

We truly can learn much from dogs.

Dogs are interesting and challenging because their temperaments are so varied and ever changing.

Dogs do many things that gladden our hearts but they can also be destructive and aggressive when not properly trained or handled.

When choosing a dog, it is important to find one that suits your temperament and your lifestyle. Do not get a dog with really high energy if you prefer a quieter lifestyle.

A dog is a long term and expensive commitment, so it is crucial to find the right one for you. Getting the wrong dog can be extremely stressful for everyone involved, especially the dog.

Humans derive a lot of joy from dogs and vice versa. Compared to their distant ancestor, the wolf, dogs are much more successful today because they have hitched their evolutionary wagon to us humans.

An interesting question to consider is whether dogs still need other dogs.

I think that dogs need their humans first and foremost. If they can also have dog companions that the get along with, then so much the better for them.

However, they do not need dog companions like they do human companions.

Spend time with your dogs; a dog desires that more than almost anything else - except maybe for cheese.