MY DOG; MY DAY…

My dog is my day.  When I think of anything about my dog, it is my day; and when I think about my day, it involves my dog.  That’s coming to an end.  It kills me; I mean, it’s part of the plan, but it kills me.  I have a dog that went with me 75%-85% of my time; working, pleasure, doesn’t matter, she went with me.  Lola, “she gets what she wants”.  That comes from a song, and I’m sure that we all know that, but it’s true.  We all get attached to our animals, and I’m one of the biggest partners of that circus.  I’ve always been a dog guy.  From when I was a kid, we always had dogs, specifically we had Weimaraner’s.  They were very energetic, but also great hunting dogs.  We just laughed, and laughed, at whatever they did, because they DID do everything!  You just get used to be entertained all the time! 

We all know the game, they just don’t live as long as our “expected life” is supposed to be.  I know that, we all know that; but they supply our lives with SO much happiness, and serenity, and believe it or not, they calm us down, despite their antics; and it’s all worth it. 

Lola is somewhere in the 14 range, maybe a little more, or less.  Whatever she has, has hit within the last 3-4 months.  That’s fast.  The hearing goes, then she starts “walking” on her walks.  No more gaiting; no more jumping on my bed, too high; no more chasing squirrels, they run too fast; no more chasing cats, they stand up to me, and I don’t want to deal with that!  There’s a lot of “no more”, it’s just too much energy.  I DO understand that part.  Too much energy, as we get on with years.

Lola is a Jindo, a Korean breed.  This breed is a very hard breed to get used to.  VERY alpha, they don’t want to socialize with other dogs, not that they get offended by other dogs, they just don’t have any interest.  Once they get into you, as an owner, or should I say, a partner, they want to always have an eye on you.  They don’t necessarily want to hug and kiss with you, they just want to have you in their view all the time, to protect you.  They don’t bark, they just stare; and stare they DO.  It took me 2-3 years to really get into their personality; took me that long to really start to understand their personality, and how they operate.  Then, I really started to love her more, and more, because I started to understand her heart.  I’ll really miss her; we all do, when they go on their own little journey.

I was training a client one morning, 13 years ago, when I saw this beautiful dog running through the intersection of Lincoln and Washington, at 8:00 in the morning, dodging cars.  I HAD  to go get her/him, and try to find the owners.  A couple of us got, (as it turned out to be) her.  I went out with signs, 25 of them, and put them up.  The thing was, we never saw any “LOST DOG” signs, though.  After about a month, I did find a family that wanted her, but by that time, I decided she was mine; I thought she would get along with my other dog, Brando.  Now, they didn’t buddy-up, but she really started to mimick what he did, she knew he was mine!  Here’s a little example, which still cracks me up:  Where I lived, I had a 6 ft. high fence, with a little hole in it, about eye level for them (the dogs).  When I came home, Brando knew the sound of my Jeep, so he would come up to that hole, put his eye up to that hole, and then his nose!  From the outside, you would see an eye, then a nose, then the eye again, then the nose!  Hilarious!  Then I started to see another nose/eye scenario, it was Lola!  So funny how that came about!  She sees him do it, then she does it; really, really funny.  I started to see that happen so many times, in so many ways. Like I said before, they weren’t “buddies”, but they hung around together, very interesting.

After Brando went on his own journey, Lola became a completely different dog.  She knew that she was now, the only dog, and she became very territorial; and she also became a little more affectionate.  That’s when I knew that I was a Jindo fan, and that I would stay with them, no matter what kind of time it would take to get to that affectionate “stage”.  Even though she would try to get out, when I first got her, I could leave the fence gate open, now, and not worry about her.  She’ll always be with me, she’s really a sweet, sweet dog.

So right now, it’s a little rough.  I knew it was coming, but oooooh, little rough.  So I just enjoy the momets that we have.  I actually enjoy “babying” her; you could see that she appreciates what we do.  I’ll keep you posted as time goes on; maybe a couple of days, maybe a couple of weeks, or a month; I don’t know.  But I will tell you, love every moment, not just with your dog , or cat, or whatever you might have, but EVERY moment, because it is a special moment.  It is a special moment, because it might be short, but it is special.

Enjoy your day, and in my life, my dog!  It’s all special…