That picture really resonated with me. Maybe, it's because I've had two similiar looking dogs. Maybe, it's just because I miss having one. Or maybe, it's just that void I have of missing what dogs represent.
From the moment you welcome a new puppy into your life until the moment, it ceases with its last breath as an old dog, you can count on one thing: consistency. They love us without judgment. Without fail. They worship us but without expectations. We are their world and they want us to know it.
It never changes with dogs. They are as excited as puppies to see us as much as they are as adults. Even when they are on their last legs and cannot run into your arms when you walk into the house, they muster enough strength to at least wag their tails to let us know, they've been waiting for us.
It's why I love dogs. This is why people will be more affected when one posts a picture around here of their beloved pet when it has passed than say, someone who posts a picture of their now deceased uncle. Pets, particularly dogs, have a profound effect on humans. They provide something people cannot and do not.... consistency. Loyalty. Unfailing love.
People disappoint. It's what we do.
Dogs do not.
Dogs are anomalies. No other breathing living creature measures up to what they provide us. I believe they are as evident of a God as a newborn baby or the complexities of the molecular structure of the universe is. You don't believe in God? Next time you are depressed, watch how your dog will try to comfort you. Next time you come home feeling insignificant in this world, observe how excited your dog is to see you as if you are the only person in existence.
In my overly analytical brain, I think God inspired man to name the most loyal and consistent creature on earth "dog" because dog spelled backwards is "God". I believe God wanted us to somehow be able to relate to His love and His hopes for us by demonstrating it through another living being.
God isn't logical to you? A loving God makes no sense? God said, "Fine. I will create an animal that will give a glimpse of the kind of God I am and I shall name him dog." That's how my mind works. Right or wrong. It's what I believe.
This whole notion that dogs are the exception to the rule or anomalies compared to everything else in this world is fascinating to me.
Imagine a world where people were consistent like they are. Relationships wouldn't fail because one cheats. Couples wouldn't fight because actions don't match the words significant others sometimes speak.
How many times have we been told we are exclusively loved and wanted and then months later, those words are being showered onto another? Face it. People change. Love letters expire faster than milk. Relationships end as quickly as roses die on Valentine's Day.
Dogs are anomalies in the sense, we don't need their words. Their actions, their love, their affection continues from the moment we welcome them into our arms as puppies until the moment they die as an old dog.
I wish people were the anomalies.
Thank God for dogs or there would be nothing to believe in.
Thank you for this. I had a dog that went to Heaven last year around this time, she was 13, she was my child and we trusted each other to no end. When I got her I rescued her from a horrible life of physical abuse, starvation and neglect. She rescued me from myself.
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