Pets: A lesson in fortune

My current animal family consists of three horses, three dogs and a donkey. I say ‘current’ because we’ve had quite a variety over the years (a rabbit, birds, fish, hamsters, a blue-tongued skink, and a Fallow deer. The skink wasn’t actually ours, but I had to feed it for months, so it’s the same thing).

We’re animal lovers. What can I say?

And if that isn’t enough, I offered my sitting services to friends this past week and looked after their three dogs (and, yes, I loved every minute of it.) There is nothing like the unquestioning and unconditional love of an animal to make one feel needed and wanted. It’s a beautiful thing.

To fully round out, what another of my friends called, my “Dr. Dolittle week”, I also spent the week reading a book about a dog – “Maggie: the dog who changed my life” by Dawn Kairns. I tend not to read animal stories because they almost always contain sadness (no, I will never watch Marley and Me, Gorillas In The Mist nearly killed me and if the trio in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey hadn’t made it home I don’t know what I would have done. I can still watch that movie today and cry at the thought of them not making it. Just ask my daughter. )

So there I was – ten animals in my care and I’m reading a book about someone else’s very special Black Lab named Maggie. It’s a sickness, right? Well, no. Reading about Maggie, I was reminded of just how little animals ask of us and how much they give us in return. How their non-verbal ways of communicating somehow tell us everything we need to know and how, through them, we become better people. The relationships they form are very simple and uncluttered. We, as humans, should try and learn more from them.

I won’t tell you Maggie’s story – you should read it for yourself – but I will tell you it’s a touching and personal insight to what a dog can do for a human. Written from the heart as a tribute to one creature that truly taught the author a lesson in love, Maggie: the dog who changed my life speaks to all of us who, at one time or another, have shared that special bond.

Whether it was Sadie, Cali, Reenie, Charlie, Jake or Maggie, most of us have had at least one special pet in our lives whose memory stayed with us long after they were gone. It doesn’t matter if it was a cat, a dog, a rabbit or a snake we humans form attachments with our pets. If you’ve ever had to hold a loved pet in your arms and say your last good-bye, you know the pain of which I speak. The heartache and loss stays for a very, very long time.

We, as pet owners, often say that animals are fortunate for our making their lives better. At the end of the day, though, isn’t it we who are the fortunate ones? 

NOTE: Click here for Dawn Kairns' blog to follow her on-going efforts on behalf of canine-kind.