D is for Dog

My husband will say I was not a dog person until I met him. He may be right. I was tolerant of dogs, but that was until Neo came into our lives. Now I love dogs. I really enjoy having one and I can't imagine life without one! Here are some of the many reasons why dogs are so wonderful:

• On cold nights, when you're shivering cold and no one else will warm you up, a dog will lay right by your feet. Some will say this is annoying because then they can't move their feet. I say it is toasty heaven!
• When you're scared of going into the basement because you left your front door unlocked and now you've got to check your houses out to make sure no boogeyman is lurking like in the movies, your dog will march down the stairs and check it out ahead of you. There is so much comfort in that.
• I recently read an article about a dog who woke up his owners and got them out a burning house. They didn't know the house was on fire because they were in such a deep sleep. Have you ever heard of a cat doing that?!
• My dog will let a toddler smack him in the face, pull his tail, dig in his food, and try to sit on him and all he'll do is look at me as if to say, "why is this little thing doing this?" Never will he hurt them.
• Dogs seem to instinctively know what you can and can't handle. My dog will play so roughly with my husband that he gets cuts on his arms from them "fighting," but when my son tries to play the same way, Neo is very gentle and plays without hurting him. He'll play tug of war with a ten pound dog and let the other dog feel like it could win.
• Dogs lower your stress just by being around. Pet one and you feel better. They bring them to nursing homes to help heal and relax the patients. Unlike humans, they do this for your love, they don't need anything but a pet and in return you get lower blood pressure, happier moods, and more!
• Dogs are always happy to see you. Who else can you say that about?
• Dogs put up with the worst of the worse and still manage to be good animals. If abused, many dogs can be recovered.
• Dogs will clean up any mess if it involves food. Spilling a bunch of food on the floor is nothing to be frustrated about when you have a dog, they just think they've won the lottery and you get help cleaning!
• Dogs will eat anything! This can be frustrating when it include socks or underwear you thought were safely tucked away in the hamper, but it is great when you're ten and trying to avoid eating your veggies.
  
• Dogs can be trained to find drugs, to aid seizure patients, to lead the blind, and to perform. They do this because they love to please and to help. I love just how eager and wonderful they are. I truly believe they remind us all of just how we can be. Hopefully, we will all learn a little bit about being more human from dogs.