Gone to the Dogs

"To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace." -Milan Kundera


I noticed something telling about myself today.

Though I've been stuck in this abominable melancholy for months now, there is one thing and one thing only that consistently, always, without fail, cheers me up to the point of bliss.

Dogs.

We don't own one, but I am fortunate enough to work in an office with a few dogs. No, I don't mean the few co-workers I don't like. I mean real live dogs. I work with blind people, so guide dogs are of course welcome and embraced in my place of employment. It's one of the few positive things about my current gig, and I hold fast to it each and every day. One particular pooch, a fantastic black lab named Claire, is guaranteed to make me smile no matter how poopy my pants are. She is still young and, when not on duty, a playful bundle of pure nirvana. But when that harness is on, Claire is all bidness. (Just a word of blind people etiquette: never, ever approach, beckon, or play with a guide dog at work; if their harness is on, they are at work; and even if it's off, ask the owner before lavishing love on the dog. It's just polite.)

My own dog, Rupert, lives in Iowa with my parents. He's getting on in years, and when I moved to Boston, I made the painful though appropriate decision to leave him with my mom and dad. Not only had he grown incredibly close to them, but the feeling was totally mutual. It made it slightly easier to walk away knowing how much love, privilege, and comfort he was going to have. Though I readily admit that I miss him desperately every single day of my life. What I wouldn't give for the smell of his coat, the honey of his kisses, the sound of his singsong snore. But Rupert is living it up, I know that. He RUNS that house. And that's just as it should be.

My crazy love extends to all dogs, really. I can be walking down the street, my face so pathetic and long it's dragging the pavement, and someone can saunter by with a canine and everything instantaneously changes. Breed of dog is unimportant. Recognition from the dog is equally unimportant. Just seeing a dog is enough.

It's enough.

To remind me that there is still some goodness, love, and devotion in the world. To remind me there is still some untouchable innocence. To remind that some things never need be spoken to be rewarding, meaningful, and inspiring.

In closing, let me share some of my favorite dog-related quotes. The Kundera selection that opens this post is one of the best, but here are a few other great ones....

"There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face." -Ben Williams

"Dogs are miracles with paws." -Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (SARK)

"Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really." -Agnes Sligh Turnbull

"I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren't certain we knew better. They fight for honor at the first challenge, make love with no moral restraint, and they do not for all their marvelous instincts appear to know about death. Being such wonderfully uncomplicated beings, they need us to do their worrying." -George Bird Evans, Troubles with Bird Dogs

"Properly trained, a man can be dog's best friend." -Corey Ford

"If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them." -Phil Pastoret

"A dog is not 'almost human' and I know of no greater insult to the canine race than to describe it as such." -John Holmes

"The more I see of man, the more I like dogs." -Mme. de Staël

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." -Roger Caras

"The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man's." -Mark Twain, letter to W.D. Howells, 2 April 1899

"No philosophers so thoroughly comprehend us as dogs and horses." -Herman Melville, Redburn: His First Voyage, 1849

"You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us." -Robert Louis Stevenson

"I wonder what goes through his mind when he sees us peeing in his water bowl." -Penny Ward Moser

"Children are for people who can't have dogs." -Author Unknown

"The more one gets to know of men, the more one values dogs." -Alphonse Toussenel

"Happiness is a warm puppy." -Charles M. Schulz