I recently made the decision to adopt a senior dog. I thought about it a lot for the past few months. I was thinking of initially getting a puppy, but then I realized that is a long-term commitment. That brought up all kinds of things for me.
“Kurt, you struggle with sharing the same space with other people for the long term.”
“Kurt, you haven’t had any relationship last more than 3-5 yrs in the past many years.”
” What if you get fed up and tired of the puppy a few years in?”
“You already surrendered one dog many years ago because you didn’t make time for her.”
And on and on. The internal dialog was quite an interesting thing to observe and experience.
I ended up adopting Snow, a 12-year-old Shepherd Husky mix. She is a great girl.
Slightly aloof at times. Just like me
Sometimes pays attention to what others are saying, other times acts like she never heard anything you said. Just like me
She prefers sleeping outside. Just like me
Loves to sit outside and watch the birds. Just like me
Over the past few days, Snow has taught me a few things:
How to be more present in each moment.
How to observe something other than myself and pay attention to body language.
How to let something else be in my space and just let it be. “Sure sleep outside if you want, even though I would like you to sleep inside.”, ” Oh you want me to come outside right now even though I don’t want to. What do you have to show me?”
How when we go for one of our many walks every day, too listen and see what’s around us. Not thinking of tomorrow or what to do next. To enjoy the walk for what it is.
In a way, I guess what I was looking for was a teacher, a guru, a dog guru.
I adopted a wolf.
Which reminds me of a story!
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, “My son, the battle is between two “wolves” inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”