Welcome to the world that my dogs have created for me! Dogs have influenced my life from such a small age. From the terrier my great aunt and uncle owned that "wasn't a toy for children to play with" to my very first four legged love... Willy, the most amazing Rottweiler that lived with my best friends family. And whilst she probably knows it, there was no small part of me that was excited to spend time with Willy as much as with my bestie Lucy! These two vastly different approaches to sharing your life with a dog has influenced me in such a massive way.
Not being able to interact with my G Aunt & Uncles dog (literally, no touching, no feeding, no walking) taught me A LOT of restraint. And unbeknownst to them, ignited that passion for watching dogs do what they do best... DOG! It was also the seventies and I had a strict family where "children were to be seen and not heard" and only "speak when spoken to" so I grew up with a myriad of cliches; some of which are rubbish, and some of which are bang on. My favourite doggy cliche "Let sleeping dogs lie". I intend to do an Anatomy of series of blog posts, keep an eye out for Anatomy of a Walk and Anatomy of a Nap being posted soon.
Willy on the other hand taught me a great many things. Willy was a big goofy laid back boy, true to his working roots with a BIG bark. He was a wonderfully balanced boy, who I now know is a credit to not only the family who shared their home with him, but to his breeder and his breed. Remember (or for those of you that don't have to spin the year of your birth section like the wheel of fortune), in the seventies and eighties it was the big German breeds that were getting all the bad press. Rottweilers, German Shepherds and Dobermans were the misunderstood breeds targeted for "Aggressive" behaviour. Having had no real hands on exposure to dogs, having been only allowed to view from a distance, being faced with this big roaming lummox initially was quite daunting. I think he felt that I was unsure and took it upon himself to prove he was worth hanging out with. I would've slept on his bed that first night, if the family would've let me! He won me over, and then some. He taught me not to believe all the hype you read about dogs, and he also taught me that I could grieve for an animal, just as much as for any human.
If you let them, and you truly share your life with them. Dogs can teach you so much about them AND EVEN MORE ABOUT YOU.
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