Let today go to the dogs! #NationalDogDay

 The fact that today is Inter/National Dog Day  means it’s going to the dogs for much better reasons than most days. We’re currently sharing our home and our lives with a couple of rescue dogs. The Better Half has Franco, a border collie crossbreed and I’ve got SiSi, a yellow Lab cross. Before they rescued us there was a long string of black Labrador retrievers, preceded by a Brittany Spaniel, and before him a beagle and several childhood mutts. There have been some periods in my life when I was without a canine companion but they’ve been relatively brief and far between, thank dog!

Franco, part border collie, all dog

Photo by J. Harrington

I know of no one who has better captured and described the relationship between humans and their best friends than Gene Hill. If you haven’t read his writings on dogs, you should look for a copy of

• Tears and Laughter


• Sunlight and Shadows


• A Listening Walk...


• Just Mutts

SiSi, part yellow Lab, all fun

Photo by J. Harrington

or almost any other of his books. Here’s a sample of some of his observations:

• “He is my other eyes that can see above the clouds; my other ears that hear above the winds. He is the part of me that can reach out into the sea. He has told me a thousand times over that I am his reason for being; by the way he rests against my leg; by the way he thumps his tail at my smallest smile; by the way he shows his hurt when I leave without taking him. (I think it makes him sick with worry when he is not along to care for me.) When I am wrong, he is delighted to forgive. When I am angry, he clowns to make me smile. When I am happy, he is joy unbounded. When I am a fool, he ignores it. When I succeed, he brags. Without him, I am only another man. With him, I am all-powerful. He is loyalty itself. He has taught me the meaning of devotion. With him, I know a secret comfort and a private peace. He has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant. His head on my knee can heal my human hurts. His presence by my side is protection against my fears of dark and unknown things. He has promised to wait for me... whenever... wherever - in case I need him. And I expect I will - as I always have. He is just my dog.”


• “Whoever said you can't buy Happiness forgot little puppies.”


• “If there is a place in heaven for Labrador Retrievers (and I trust there is or I won't go) it'll have to have a brook right smack in the middle - a brook with little thin shoals for wading and splashing; a brook with deep, still pools where they can throw themselves headlong from the bank; a brook with lots of small sticks floating that can be retrieved back to shore where they belong; a brook with muskrats and muskrat holes; a brook with green herons and wood ducks; a brook that is never twice the same with surprises that run and swim and fly; a brook that is cold enough to make the man with the dog run like the devil away from his shaking; a brook with a fine spot to get muddy and a sunny spot or two to get dry.” 

If you’re fortunate enough to share your life with a dog or two or more, be sure to celebrate today with them. Then, remember to celebrate every day you can share with them. If you’re not lucky enough to have a dog in your life, you have our sympathy and our fond wishes you can find a way to fill that empty hole, even if you don’t know it as such yet.

On the off chance that Gene Hill isn’t quite to your taste, or if you simply are looking for a different way to understand something about dogs, I suggest looking at Mary Oliver’s Dog Songs, such as

LUKE

I had a dog
  who loved flowers.
    Briskly she went
        through the fields, 

yet paused
  for the honeysuckle
    or the rose,
        her dark head 

and her wet nose
  touching
    the face
         of every one 

with its petals
  of silk,
    with its fragrance
         rising 

into the air
  where the bees,
    their bodies
        heavy with pollen, 

hovered—
  and easily
     she adored
        every blossom, 

not in the serious,
  careful way
    that we choose
        this blossom or that blossom— 

the way we praise or don’t praise—
  the way we love
     or don’t love—
        but the way 

we long to be—
  that happy
    in the heaven of earth—
        that wild, that loving.

********************************************
Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.