Life Lessons From My Dogs

Dogs offer the best life lessons.  I have two pups and they are a huge part of my life.  Not having children, the two pups have basically taken over my facebook and instagram feeds with their constant adorable-ness 🙂  Besides being cute though, these two mutts offer so much love, joy, and contentment to my life.  They help me get outside when I don’t want to go.  They help me smile when I am crying.  Whether a fighter, survivor, or caregiver, sometimes life requires taking a page out of the pups’ books about living life to the fullest 🙂

[list type=”like”]
[list_item]ask for help[/list_item]

Caya insists on belly rubs all.the.time.  Seriously, if she has ever felt self-conscious about asking for what she wants, I have never seen evidence of it.  I’ll walk in a room and she will roll over immediately, waiting for pets.  I’ll leave and come back 5 minutes later to find her still laying on her back!  Asking for help can be this easy.  Caya knows that she LOVES belly rubs and I know that I LOVE spending time with friends.  Pick up the phone and ask for what you need from the people you love.

[list_item]it is always fun to go outside[/list_item]

Inca loves going outside.  I just have to whisper the word outside in her ear and she immediately gives me her full attention.  I know that spending time outside makes me feel better too…even on days when I feel less than my best.  Whether I’m sitting in a chair, taking a stroll with the pups around the neighborhood, or going for a run or bike ride, I love being outside.  For some reason though, sometimes it is hard to leave the house!  I have plenty to do here.  My comfy bed is here…as is the comfy couch.  My pups though?  They love going outside, no matter what.  They are always there to give me that little boost or nudge that I need to get outside 🙂

[list_item]take breaks[/list_item]

If anyone knows how to relax when it is time to take a break, it is pups…or cats I guess, but I have less experience with them 🙂  I work from home a majority of the time now and I pictured my days filled with my growing career and playing with my two dogs.  Nope!  Around 10 am the pups take to their beds and snooze until mid-afternoon!

[list_item]play nice[/list_item]

I’m pretty sure that my two pups love each other.  They sure spend a lot of time around one another 😉  Every once in a while though, one of them seems to cross some sort of imaginary boundary that the other has defined and a small disagreement occurs.  Some glances are exchanged and sometimes those hackles on the back of their necks are even raised.  10 minutes later though?  It is like nothing happened!  What I take from this?  Stick with those people in your life who are worth raising your hackles at every once in a while and then forget that anything happened.  The people who you raise your hackles at over and over?  Now, those people are a different story.  In general, everyone has their boundaries and everyone is going through something.  Express your problem with the situation and then forget it happened.  Play nice.

[list_item]this too shall pass[/list_item]
Caya, was present with me during my mother’s illness and then when my mom died.  Sometimes I talk directly to Caya when I’m feeling sad and wanting to be talking with my mother.  One night, I laid myself onto the bed next to Caya and cried and cried and cried.  Caya looked at me and put her paw right on my cheek, straightening her arm and deforming my face.  I couldn’t help but laugh.

[/list]