I waited till last minute to head over to do my, three times a week, daily chores of feeding, watering, poop scooping, and the various other, endless, duties of a Southern Friends' Sanctuary volunteer. The reason I waited was because the weather was so depressing... Cold, damp mist with occasional sprinkles, and the sun not peeping through a bit all day. And with the rain that had already fallen previously, MUD! I'm not a fan of winter. I wear sweaters in the summer time, and I especially don't like to be cold AND wet! So my thoughts were to just run over, feed quickly, check water pails, and scoop the obvious poop.
When I arrived, all was quiet. But my dear little Charlie soon picked up on my arrival and announced to all the other pups, "Feeding time!," and the bark fest was on. To all of us dog lovers, and especially in Rescue, this is music to our ears.
So I get busy with my chores, entering each run, greeting each dog, and soon my yellow slicker was covered in brown mud. And I'm not even mentioning that, in their excitement, they sling or splash a few bits of mud on my face, try to pull my gloves off, nip my back side, and I accidentally dump cold rain water all over myself while clearing a tarp, that covers the dog houses, that was not draining properly.
Not a fun day? Actually it was!
Years ago, when I started studying the skill of dog training, I quickly discovered that, in working with dogs, I was learning so much more about myself, than I was about dogs. I'm still learning lessons today, and I know that this pattern will continue for as long as I'm in association with canines, hopefully for all of my life.
So on this miserable day, I stooped in the rain to talk to each pup, and of course give pats, rubs and a special treat. And each pup in return, wiggling with joy, eyes shining, gave back to me so much more... love, loyalty, honesty, appreciation, adoration.
The human-canine connection. What a gift!
Tara
What a great blog Tara. I had a good cry this morning! :)
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