The Doggy as The Teacher

On By Lady GIn Animals and Pets

Angel 2

I have loved dogs for as long as I can remember.  In fact, one of my earliest memories was of my dad asking me to name our newest pooch.  I was only 3 years old and my vocabulary was considerably small so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind and that was “Sheppy!”  You might be wondering where I got that name.  My best guess is that it was a childish corruption of the word ‘Shepherd.’  Clearly, I must have overheard my parents mention that our new dog was a German Shepherd.  ‘Sheppy’ was the closest approximation to ‘Shepherd’ that I could muster.

Believe it or not, Sheppy was one of my first and greatest teachers.  Unfortunately, I can’t say that I was always the best student.  But that never seemed to matter to Sheppy; he simply kept repeating the lessons. Now you might be wondering how a dog could act as an instructor.  Well let me answer that!  Sheppy used a teaching technique called ‘modeling.’  In essence, Sheppy modeled the traits that I, and most of you, will spend a lifetime trying to acquire.  Let’s get specific!  Sheppy modeled unconditional love, acceptance, loyalty, affection and fierce protectiveness.  Frankly, I don’t have enough space to write about all of the traits that Sheppy modeled; dog owners will know what I mean.  Regardless, Sheppy was determined to lead by example.  Alas, after years of repeatedly attempting to teach me these important traits, my dear Master Sheppy Flowers ultimately shuffled off this mortal coil.  For those of you who dislike Shakespearean references, Sheppy died.  Needless to say, I was sad for quite a while.

But, as you might have guessed, Sheppy wasn’t the last dog in my life.  In fact, he was the first of at least fifteen.  And, as a result, I learned that every dog is essentially a teacher who is trying to convey the traits that I mentioned above.  With that said, I would eventually take lessons from other “teachers” like Champ, Lil Gal, Princess and Frisky.  One of my more memorable teachers was Bones.  My dad brought Bones, who was very ill, to our home with the intention of caring for him until he died.  In essence, dad was providing doggy hospice.  Dad and I loved, fed and nurtured Bones until he peacefully passed away.  From this experience, I learned that all sentient beings deserve to be cared for and loved; even unto death. Although it was tough letting Bones go, I took solace in knowing that his last weeks were filled with affection, love and comfort.  Aha! I had begun to catch on! Lesson learned.

At any rate, I am happy to announce that my current teacher is Angel.  She is the Pomeranian pictured above.  I can assure you that age has taught me to pay closer attention to the lessons this time around 🙂

What have your pets taught you?

german-shepherd-1045288_1920

In memory of my dogs (I included their breeds for those interested in knowing):

Champ–German Shepherd

Sheppy–German Shepherd

Bones, Princess and Demon–Doberman Pinschers

Lil’ Gal and Frisky–Beagles

Prince–Cocker Spaniel

RA–Rottweiler

And all the other dogs that Daddy cared for over the years.

 

 

 

 

19 thoughts on “The Doggy as The Teacher”

  1. Tack

    You don’t remember when Demon caught Mrs. Willie’s St Bernard at the fence and tried to bite his ear off do you? Daddy sure did love the hell out of Demon that day lol!

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  4. Awww, sweet Angel. They are all a gift sent from above. I may have to write a post about a few of my gifts, and one in particular, Esmerelda. She was part human, I swear. I literally had to give up half my queen bed to her… and I had other cats whom she wouldn’t share her side with either. Animals are no less than amazing. 🙂

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  5. I am not a dog lover, but I think your dog is cute and yes animals, not only dogs, teach us lessons in unconditional love. I watched a film at Christmas time called ‘Hacchi’ (I hope I’ve spelt that right) starring Hacchi (the dog) and Richard Gere. I wonder if you have seen it Lady G? Not to spoll it for others who might want to watch it, it was a brilliant and sad lesson about faithfulness in a dog.:)

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    1. Thank you M’Lady! She is quite cute isn’t she? LOL!
      I have not see that film but I think I’ve heard of it before.
      My daughter loves animals so if it’s still out maybe I’ll take her to see it 🙂
      Thanks for the recommendation, love!
      Always a pleasure seeing you 🙂

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      1. It’s an old film sweetie. I saw it on TV – one of the many Christmas ‘weepie’ films. Maybe you can get it on Netflix? You’ll love it too – it’s for the whole family! My daughter loves animals too! She gets very upset if they are ill-treated and is always helping them out if she can. EG she saw a frog walking across the road, and she was afraid it would get run over so she helped it to get across the road as quickly as it could by shoo-ing it along. Quite amusing but sweet! Not sure if the frog appreciated the kindness though. :))

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  7. Reblogged this on seekthebestblog and commented:

    Lady G wrote this one in honor, and in memory of all of my four-legged friends.
    If you are a DOG fan, then you understand 🙂
    By the way, this has been a very busy year for me.
    I am preparing for a HUGE event! Don’t worry, I’ll tell you more about it when the time comes 🙂
    As a result of all this busy-ness, I have gotten behind on reading the wonderful posts that you guys have written 😦
    I am in the process of catching up!
    While I might not be able to read each one, I will certainly be stopping by your blogs as soon as I can!
    Love and light to you all!
    Lady G 😘💋

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  8. Pingback: Blackie – seekthebestblog

  10. Lady G – This is by all accounts the most intimate piece of literacy I’ve read about the lessons we can learn from dogs. And you tackle a one of the main benefits dogs offer us – their teachings.

    You and your Dad are two of God’s Angels for dogs. I don’t know many people that would takei a sick dog on the pretense of making him comfortable to his final sleep. That’s humanity right there.

    I enjoyed this post from beginning to in – very touching. Reblog is a must.

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