During August life, took on a pace of its own....Abbey one of my English Springer Spaniels was mated and at the end of October she delivered a litter of seven puppies. Of course they were ready to go at New Year, which is not the most convenient time for families to take delivery of a new puppy! So many of the puppies stayed a lot longer this time! You can imagine what life was like with four adult dogs and seven puppies. Once they were out of the whelping box, it was like having a band of bouncy happy marauders wreaking havoc from the moment they opened their eyes in the morning until they collapsed in a puppy pile at night!
Nevertheless it is wonderful experience, not for the faint-hearted, particularly if you do the math. 11 pooping bums, pooping two to three times a day! That is a lot of pooper scooping - honestly I think I could have started a fertilizer factory! But for me it is amazing to see the little personalities develop, match them to their new families and then when they leave, we expand our family further afield.
Each family that gets a puppy from us tends to stay in contact to some degree. Some more so than others. I miss the puppies every day after they leave and the departures can be terribly traumatic! But I console my aching heart with the fact that some little kids have acquired a new little friend and will be making memories that they will carry fondly into their adulthood in a very special place in their heart. These days will be remembered as some of the best days of their lives. Especially when it is their first puppy ever.
My first puppy ever continues to hold a special place in my heart. He was a black and tan Dobermann called Bruce. He started life as a the runt in a litter of 11. But he grew to be a large, strong and powerful dog, albeit with a runty size heart. Essentially he was a big baby!
What is this to do with reasons, seasons and lifetimes.... ? Well our pets are with us for such a short time in the bigger scheme of life, and they are definitely there for a reason, and definitely the memories you make with that dog stay with you for a lifetime. I remember school holidays in PE, riding bikes in the veldt, the sun seemed brighter, the air seemed cleaner, everything was free and there and waiting to be explored....and Bruce went everywhere with the neighbourhood kids. Never a leash in sight, he used to run joyfully alongside the bikes, tongue lolling out and when we reached our desintation and lay the bikes on the ground, he would patiently lie and way for the next big adventure.
The impact of our dogs on our lives is profound. Each subsequent dog finds its own space in your heart and with the passage of time, eventually your heart is bursting at the seams with all the furry friends in your life. With each loss, particularly the most traumatic ones, you tell yourself that I will never get another, I cannot bear the pain of loss and yet in the months to come...life seems so empty without the wagging tail and the wet kisses. I am focusing on dogs, as this is my pet of choice, but for some, it could be a bearded dragon?! So in that case, it could be hissed greetings, smelly breath and the kiss of a forked tongue...I digress.
I believe that dogs increase our capacity for love. The more you have over the years of your life, the greater your capacity for love and compassion. God made it so. Essentially man can be a selfish and destructive species, but for those of us who learn the capacity to love from dog, learn the art of forgiveness from a dog, cry when we witness man's cruelty and abuse to dogs, ultimately become human's filled with God's love, forgiveness and compassion.
I often think that there must be a reason that Dog and God have the same three letters. Look at the dog in your life today and think how much better the world could be if we could bestow on others the love, compassion and forgiveness our dogs so generously bestow on us. And always remember that the day the light goes out in your best friend's eyes... it is not the end, it is the beginning of a different season....your friend and your memories stay with you until the lights go out of your eyes.
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