The Meaning of Life? Dogs!

Mans best friend.

There are a few things that have led to this topic being my first post. The first one being the fact that I am currently living in the same house of my dog (Zeus) but I miss him terribly! Check out his cute little chops in above photo. Totally squishy.

This is because I’ve had to move back in with my parents temporarily during end of a tenancy and purchasing of my own property meaning Zeus has the company of his grandparents who adore him and are constant treat dispensers, he also has the company of his auntie Lucy (my parents 4 legged daughter – a 5 year old whippet) so whilst I’m tucked up in my very cosy cramped makeshift dining room bedroom he would much rather be with them wherever they go in the house and leave me to my own devices. I also miss the little things such as feeding him, walking him, playing with him. All of which I still do but not as often as his grandparents take over the most of the day to day care, that is apart from anything nasty like giving him medication or ear drops – I still get those jobs!

This week has been quite stressful for me still recovering from some flu virus and attempting to sort out somewhere to live and I really was letting things get to me with sleepless nights and arguments between me and my husband as tension was building.

But today I was humbled by a colleague sharing an experience with me over a tenant he had talked to earlier in the day. The tenant had tarnished name, he was labelled as a dangerous and he had a large over protective dog (dogue de Bordeaux) , the operatives were not to attend the property alone. You can imagine that given this information my colleague was quite apprehensive to go to the property but after taking the time to talk to whilst there he came out feeling very different than when he went in. The tenant had an extremely troubled past dating back to his childhood, foster homes, children’s homes, abused, homeless, robbed, beaten, drug abuse and now he suffered with mental illness as a result of all he endured in this life and had to be medicated just to cope and get through each day. He told my colleague the only reason he was alive now was because of his dog.

My colleague and I spoke about this revaluation from the tenant and expressed our compassion for the situation. We both agreed we may complain everyday about our life’s, our jobs, our and our circumstances but compared to some, our life was like we had won the lottery. We were also very understanding of how important his dog was to him. Some people see them as just pets but they are family, friends, supportive and loving creatures . They will love you unconditionally despite your past and any future mistakes are already forgiven. To them you are the best person in the world, they will stand by you in the cold, wind, rain, through homelessness, depression, anxiety and even though they can’t talk they somehow understand and know that even just being there by our sides means everything.

So a reminder to always be thankful for what you have in life because someone always has it worse than you and also to appreciate dogs because they are life! Also remember to be kind to anyone you meet in life despite any pre judgements you may have, every one is fighting their own battle and many of us will face the same battle at some point in our life’s.

I see you.

Leanne