I love dogs. Actually, let me rephrase that.....
I have ALWAYS loved dogs. From the time I was first aware that wet noses and slobbery kisses could come in the form of someone other than my parents, dogs have been an integral part of my life.
Would you be surprised to find out I didn't actually have my own dog until I was an adult, married and with children of my own? Well, I was, too.
My mother was a bit of a clean freak, a trait I fortunately did not inherit. She would pride herself in maintaining a home so clean she would proudly exclaim we could eat off her floors! A statement like that made no sense to me since I had no desire to eat off the floor nor did I really know any family members or friends who would delight in dining on ground level should they be invited over for dinner or any other occasion where food was involved. As far as I was aware, dogs ate off the floor. In fact, dogs kept the floor clean from any food debris dropped on the floor from us humans. It seemed more logical that my mother would have wanted a dog so the floor would be clean all the time and she wouldn't have to spend so much time maintaining it.
Unfortunately, a dog was not part of my parents' plan. They preferred the freedom of long shopping trips, all day weekend excursions and not having the added perksof dog hair, tracked in mud or the need to walk a dog in cold or rainy weather. Point taken, but it was still quite disappointing to a child who loved dogs so much.
Fortunately, I had friends whose parents did not share the same views as mine.
I learned about dogs from my friends' dogs, as well as from situations that occasionally arose with dogs in my surrounding community. Those experiences shaped me. They influenced my life in more ways than I am even aware and made me the person I am today....a person who loves dogs and cannot imagine a life without them.
If you also love dogs, please join me on this journey, as we explore the many ways dogs enrich our lives...as well as how we can enrich theirs!
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