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4:22pm

Loving....why animals can be better than people...

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dakota

I have always been a big animal lover. And I have to say that generally I have liked animals more than people. Never more so than after I became a police officer 13 years ago. I LOVE my job, and really enjoy working Forensics, which is what I do now.
Recently however, I have discovered something that I must have always known but never really keyed in on well...animals are better than people most of the time.
I used to have three labs, all female. And they were my world. When I divorced six years ago, they were all I had left, that and the home that I fought to keep, so that they could have a big yard to run and play in. And then age caught up with them. Cinderbear passed first, after being my best friend for 13 years. Then her sister Sam after 12 years. Shelby went last after only 8 short years. All within 6 months of each other, all naturally. I thought I would die. I myself had been sick, very sick, for a long time. So I took a leave of absence from the department and moved to Seattle for a while, hoping to find a reason to get up in the morning again.
I never thought I would find it, in the liquid eyes of a puppy.
I started volunteering on weekends at a place called R.E.D, or Rescue Every Dog. A wonderful organization. They had rescued a tripod pup that was slated for euthanasia at the pound. It's leg had been crushed so badly that it had to be removed above the shoulder line, leaving a hole. The pup wouldn't respond to humans at all, only large female dogs.
I went over there after hearing his story, determined to make a difference in his little life. I sat to the side of his little crate for two hours, whispering my story to him, and telling him how lonely and sad I had been. I cried, telling him of my dogs, and how it was so wrong to come home and not have a warm pup there to greet me. At the end of those two hours that little baby crawled out of the crate and proceeded to climb into my lap. He then just looked at me as if to say, "It's okay, we'll take care of eachother now."
I sobbed for a while longer at his trust and then took him home. My sister called two days later to tell me that she was pregnant. I packed my things and my Dakota (he is named for the Lakota Indian Tribe, whose totem spirit is a wolf, Dakota's ancestors) and we moved home.
He has continued to be my strength as I am his when he is tired. I come home after looking death in the face all the time at work, and he is warm and happy to see me.
He wasn't all that happy about getting a little sister recently, and when she grew to be bigger than he is, he was even less happy. But when she proved to be my husband's dog, he was THRILLED. He has mommy all to himself now...
Dakota is almost as incredibly awesome as my husband, although you don't have to tell him that. And Dakota doesn't even care if I don't shave everyday or have bad breath! LOL
Loving...unconditional love...it's the only place short of God to find it, in the liquid eyes of my dog. Amazing isn't it?