I am blessed enough to entertain 4 dogs in my little life. Of course I'm referring to canines, although the comparison can often be brought against the females of my own species; monsters and giant squids of anger - for instance.
Anyway back to dogs. I have four of them. But only one has my heart wrapped around her little claw. They say after some time a dog begins to look like its owner, well this one acts like its owner.
Isis - the prettiest dog in the world - is a black lab/whippet cross we picked up when my family was living in Belgium, thick as two-short-planks but very sweet with massive brown puppy eyes. she even crosses her legs when she lays down. She rarely barks, choosing to be seen and not heard, stays out of trouble and doesn't like playing unless it's on her terms.
On two occasions today alone she proved why we love her so. I came downstairs fuming about my utter failure of a university letting me down AGAIN, and she was straight there, pretty much forcing me to cuddle her and giving me that look that makes me forget everything in the world because she's too bloody sweet! Later the matriarch was a bit upset about something familial she has to deal with tomorrow and, once again, from no-where came Isis, paw on leg, head on knee, velvety soft ears flicking in that 'stroke me now' way only she has managed to master.
We used to have a black Alsatian, she was an ex RMP dog and was possibly the most loyal animal to walk the earth - a fact she proved on more than one occasion. She got to a stage of illness (as many dogs do) where we had to do the kindest thing and I still remember the afternoon my mum came home from the vets on October 5th 2002 with Thor's collar in her coat pocket. From that moment Isis stepped up and stopped being a puppy.
It's very peculiar how attached we become to our pets, but it's even more peculiar how in sync we become with them. Isis is eleven years old this year, she's pretty short sighted and getting arthritic in her back legs, but she's still fit and healthy, she's still got the biggest eyes you'll ever see and eye lashes most women would kill for. She knows when we need reassuring that there is good in the world and she will be like that until the bitter end, a day I hope my parents have the good sense to call me home to say goodbye.
There isn't a huge amount of research on this kind of behaviour in dogs, but Isis saw some pretty horrific stuff when she was a puppy. She arrived about a year before my parents split and had to watch us all go through that - she would've learned from a young age what we look like upset and I put her ability to comfort us down to that.
She's a bit slow and has always had terrible breath, but she's my puppy and I love her to bits. and she's really cute - did I say that already?
AO
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By the way - I am aware that I've ignored this blog AGAIN for like ten months - but I've been busy! Plus I have two other blogs as well. If it helps I do have about eighteen-throusand words waiting to be typed up - I just haven't had a chance to, yet.
--scratch that - I have no discipline, sorry!
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