What Dogs Teach Us

My human mom is reading a great book (Woman’s Best Friend, stories about women and the dogs in their lives), and she wanted to share something from it to all of you. This excerpt is part of the introduction, by Pam Houston.

Her Irish Wolfhound Dante battled and subsequently died of bone cancer…this is what she wrote about the lessons he taught her:

“Dante taught me that if your paws are too big to fit in your ears, you have to get someone else to do the scratching….He taught me that if you really love somebody, cleaning their bodily excretions off the carpet is no problem, and in the end, the money doesn’t really matter a bit. He taught me that loving, in the face of inevitable loss, is the single most important challenge of our lives; that without loss, life isn’t worth a hill of beans, and without love, life is nothing more than a series of losses. He taught me that everything is forgivable, that every moment contains eternity, and that loving unconditionally doesn’t mean you are a self-annihilating fool.

After he died, he taught me how to live without him, but also that I didn’t have to. He taught me that because we loved each other so completely, a part of him would always be with me.”

So always hug your pups and your loved ones and always tell them you love them. Even when it feels like they may challenge your love!