Learning to love like a dog.....

Sometimes my dogs make me really mad. Especially when they bark, shred paper or steal food. Life would be so much easier without them. Until they were gone - and then I would realize what a gaping hole had been left in my life. And I would be sad. The puppies love to play. They love me unconditionally. They watch TV with me. They love it when I pet their silky soft fur - which is kinda like playing with sand or anything else that calms me. I can't stay stressed while I'm petting the dog. They curl up beside me at night and keep me warm and snuggly. They listen when I rant, jump when I laugh, cock their heads and look at me with liquid eyes when I cry. They want to be with me, they want to please me. There's no miscommunication with dogs. No hurt feelings.
They bark at intruders, eat the crumbs off my floor, fetch the paper. They know when I am sick or hurting and gently lick me, paw me, before settling down at my side to watch over me. The dogs will greet me with pure joy and exuberance when I come home from anywhere. Dogs love with no hidden agendas. Their love is pure and intense. Dogs expect nothing from me other than food, water and LOVE.
Dogs are born with an endless capacity for agape love, and they don't even have to work at it. If I am grouchy, if I ignore them, if I refuse them love - they still love me. And when I decide I'm ready to be friends again, my dogs don’t ignore me to teach me a lesson. They're just happy I'm there. Dogs love for a lifetime. This is something humans work hard on in relationships, but often fail at.
This is why we need dogs. They do something for us that rarely a human companion can do. No matter how much I mess up, or how many things I do wrong, no matter how many mistakes I make or how often I make them my dogs still love me. It doesn't matter how I look, how much money I make, or if I am popular. My dog never judges me. He loves me with all his heart.
A few thoughts to leave you with:

"Plus je vois les hommes, plus j'admire les chiens" (The more I see of men, the more I admire dogs) Madame Roland - 18th century

"the best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter ... may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to him ... may become traitors to their faith.... The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog." Samuel Coleridge - May 1830

"The dog chooses us, not because it is confused about our identity, not because dogs think we are the marvel of creation, but merely because dogs love us. It is such an amazing fact, and so counter intuitive (so profoundly unlovable do we think we are) that almost nobody can accept it as fact. Dogs love us not only because we feed them, or walk them, or groom them, or protect them, but because we are fun. How astonishing!" Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

"Dog love is local love, passionate, often unmediated, virtually always reciprocated, fulfilling, manageable. Love for humans is harder." Marjorie Garber


"Dogs are astonishingly skilled at reading humans' patterns of social behavior, especially behaviors related to food and care. They figure out our moods and what makes us happy, what moves us. Then they act accordingly, and we tell ourselves that they're crazy about us. " Brian Hare

"Even when fully acquainted with all our weaknesses, our treachery, our unkindness, the dog seems to love strongly......" Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

When a dog loves you, he loves you forever.....
Can you imagine how it could change the world if we would love like a dog?