What is HELP FIDO?

Humane Education Leads to Progress
For Informed Dog Owners

Vision Statement: We envision a society free from discrimination, where responsibility, education, love and compassion allow humans to fully respect and understand man's best friend.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Unconditional Love

I am having a crappy day at work. Heck - I am having a crappy year.
As with most folks - it impacts how the rest of my life goes. It affects my relations with my husband, my family and my friends. However, it really doesn't impact how my relationship is with my dogs. A friend recently gave me some words of wisdom . . . "You cannot control how others treat you. But you can control how you react to their treatment of you."
Dogs have this luxurious capacity to dwell in the present tense. They are happy you are finally home. They are happy you are feeding them. They are happy you are taking them outside. They are really happy you are talking to them in a strange voice that they don't understand but sounds good.
Their eyes and their tails belie this happiness. The warmth of their bodies are comforting when your world sucks.
I have read many an article, as I am sure you have too, about abused, neglected dogs who are rescued from the clutches of certain death . . . and sometimes from a situation worse than death. And yet, the dogs do not turn on their rescuers. They express happiness in a new found friend. Certainly there are those who have issues moving past what they have experienced. But far and away most dogs respond to the love and compassion that is bestowed upon them by returning it with equal measure. This is no more obvious than in the rehabilitation of the Vick dogs and the wonderful accomplishments they have made. Proof positive (or is that pawsitive?) that even in the "worst" of cases you can drill down to that original depth of emotions in the dog.
And so today when I return home from my awful Monday, bitter and stressed, I know that Sasha and Sparky will be just as happy to see me as when I return at the end of a good day. They will relate their happiness solely to the fact that I am home. In their eyes why shouldn't I be happy too? And when I look into their eyes I will have a hard time remaining bitter and stressed. I will seek comfort in their warm wiggly bodies. I will find humor in their actions and peace in their kisses. I will remember why I go to work...to earn more money for kibble and chew toys :-)
And I will lay my head down tonight and go to work tomorrow with renewed vigor and vitality.
Unconditional love.

1 comment:

kcdogblog said...

It's funny. One night the wife accused me of being happier to see the dogs when I got home late one night than her. I told her that that was debatable, but there was NO debate on who was happier to see me, her or the dogs. It's like Christmas every day to them whenever I get home...

These are the dogs of HELP FIDO...our dogs...this is why we are here...