Читать книгу Leashes and Lovers - What Your Dog Can Teach You About Love, Life, and Happiness - Sheryl Matthys - Страница 17

Dogs offer us unconditional love and enduring relationships. We include them in our holiday celebrations, our family gatherings, our social outings, and nowadays even our weddings.

For example, when talk show host Montel Williams married his fiancée, Tara Fowler, they had a very unusual ring-bearer: Mr. Max, the couple’s one-year-old black Toy Poodle, who wore a ring-pillow attached to his hindquarters with a harness.

People may come in and out of our lives, but our dogs remain a constant part of them. We may have relationships with friends for 10, 20, 30+ years, and even though we’re lucky if we get ten years with our dogs, we may feel more connected during those relationships than during those with our friends.

In an article entitled “Surprising Health Benefits for Pet Owners,” Patricia Wagner writes, “American Animal Hospital Association President, Link Wellborn, believes that pets are more than just a member of the family – they’re central to a healthy lifestyle due in part to their companionship.

Pets help lessen tension between family members and add a lot of fun and unconditional love to the homes in which they live. When pets do cute and funny things – which they often do – family members react by laughing and being more relaxed.”

A dog’s companionship knows no bounds. It is absolutely limitless in its capacity to influence our own comfort. They are always there at the ready with a warm, wet snout, a sloppy kiss, or to play or be cuddled. They don’t make excuses. They don’t get headaches. They don’t screen calls, hide behind the front door when we knock, or dodge down another aisle when we catch sight of them in the grocery store. They are steadfastly there for us. We humans, on the other hand, never quite seem content; we run away from commitment, chase after the unattainable, and wonder why we aren’t happy.

What’s more, dogs truly make you feel like a wanted companion. They are actively eager to make your acquaintance, even if all you’ll be doing is lying around all day. Humans tend to take relationships for granted. We need our “space,” we want more “freedom,” we want to be “independent,” and so we discount our relationships, deny our companions, and ignore those we love the most, assuming they’ll always be there.

Tennis star Monica Seles says her dogs always make her feel like a winner. Monica said to me, “They’re always happy to see you. After the pressure of a day, it’s so nice to come home and – no matter if I won my match or lost my match – they treat me the same way. They love you regardless.”

For dogs, every day is their first day and their last. They wait patiently for us and then are excited beyond belief when we decide to share some companionship with them. They wake up with a blank slate; it’s a new day – let’s play! If only we could treat all our companions as the gifts they are, instead of – as we sometimes do – like burdens, we, too, would enjoy what it truly means to have a true companion!

Dogs truly make you feel like a wanted companion... If only we could treat all our companions as the gifts they are.