HEART....

Is where the home is. I know, I know, you’ll say I have the ‘spression backwards. But for us dogs, this is how we think and feel. And maybe, you humans could take a lesson from this. I mean, think about it. What does the original saying really mean? Home is where the heart is. That, even though you might be in a good place, it’s not home because your “heart” isn’t there. Your heart isn’t in it. That’s sad, because you can’t enjoy where you are because you’ve left your heart somewhere else.

This subject came up on our car drive “home” the other morning. Home, being Dayton, but “home” has been, to Mom at least, Marquette. And she gets sad, sometimes, when she thinks of “home”. I barked at her about how silly that thought is, though. I mean, isn’t home where WE are, and where dad is too? She just growled at me. I was actually pretty hurt. *Whine* But I think I made my point.

Mom and Dad have some friends that have lived in the same town two times, each time for several years. They own a house. Their best friends are here. But their hearts have always been in another state. So to them, that is “home”. And they’ll never be content because they’re not “home”. However, sometimes people don’t leave their hearts in a certain place. Their heart is always in their home because they take it with them. They call home every place they go because they don’t long for something they’ve left behind. That’s a good thing…

Now, us dogs? Well, reverse the expression. Heart is where the home is. We are so grateful for a home, for someone to love us, that we will put our heart into the home that is given us. I was reminded of it recently when we had little, tiny Eliza Doolittle stay with us. Poor Eliza. Who knows what her real name was. Mom picked her up from a pound on the day she was to be euthanized. She was found at a donut store. No tags. Pretty skinny. No hair. Very smelly. “Not adoptable” said the pound. Not adoptable? That’s just wrong, but I digress, as always. Well, some nice people in Canada saw her on the internet and begged for her safety. Mom went and got her for them.

And renamed her Eliza because, as mom said, she really will be a pretty little thing and has a lot of potential…she just needs work. But y’know what? Our home became Eliza’s and she gave us her heart. Heart is where her home is. She was really affectionate. She was grateful. She was playful and happy. She didn’t pine for something in the past. She didn’t leave her heart somewhere else. She gave it to us. So when it was time to send her on her way, we were sad (well, not really, but mom sorta was), but Eliza was ok. ‘Cuz Eliza was going to give her heart to her new home. And when Eliza goes on her way again to her final home, she’ll give her heart to them. Because….her heart is where her home is.

Just the other night, we saw Sydney and Boomer again. Syndey, he’s had it pretty tough. He, like my siblings, is still showing signs of a hard life. But as Sydney’s mom and I discussed, he’s doin’ pretty good right now. It is due to having a great home. And his heart is there. Doesn’t matter he’s been in a bunch of houses or places, his heart is where mom and dad and siblings are now. His heart is where his home is.

And that’s no different for any of us in my home. It was tough on all of us to be bounced around. The first day I was at mom and dad’s house (my second home) I ran away. Poor baby Ditto went from home to farm to kennel to home to mom and dad’s, all before he was 6 months old. He was so scared. Sophie lived on the streets for at least a year if not more, raising pups and foraging for food. To this day she can’t eat normally, like me (then again, no one eats like me!). Gracie, our current foster, has been abused, scared, yelled at. But all of our hearts are here, even Gracie’s. Our hearts are where our home is now. The day will come when our foster Gracie will go to her new home.  Her heart will end up there…..

We live in the present, enjoying each moment. We don’t pine for the old home, the other family, the way it was, even if it was, at one time, good. We love who we are with now and what happiness we have now. For many of us, who knows what tomorrow will bring. And for many of us, yesterday is gone—good or bad—it’s gone. So…heart is where the home is…and we’re very happy to give it away to the home we’re in. So…where is your heart?

Thanks for reading everybody. Hope you were “bearmused” today.

When bad things happen to good…..

Dogs. With all due respect to Harold Kushner, we’re talking about bad things happening to dogs. And I’m not referring to situations like mine, where I was mauled almost to death by 5 pit bulls, or like what happened to my foster sister Gracie, who was most likely physically but, for sure, verbally abused. No, what I’m barking about is what causes bad things to happen.

Have you read Garth Stein’s book, “The Art of Racing in the Rain”? It’ll be a subject for a longer discussion on another post some day, but for today we are referring to what Enzo, the dog narrator, says in the book, “That which we manifest is before us”. Ponder that. To me and my mom it means we create our own reality. That which we MANIFEST….that which we create. That which we show. That which we reveal, make obvious….it is before us. Having to listen to all of the audiotapes that mom listens to in the dog mobile, I was privy to this book and heard this statement. And it makes sense. And last Thursday, it was crystal clear.

Mom and I had a disagreement as to whether to post this. You see, I was attacked again. No, it’s ok. I wasn’t hurt. Well, my ego was bruised, but I was unscathed. Mom…she was a wreck. This time it was in an enclosed dog park in Chicago. But what made it worse was it was a golden retriever that came after me. Can you imagine? Humiliating. But this time, the owner was able to call the offending canine off of me, and rather quickly, thankfully for mom’s sake. But something very interesting happened as the situation unfolded. The guy, as he was holding back, via a very strong leash, his other golden retriever that was snarling and lunging at my brother, Ditto, made a statement that took us all aback. “This always happens at the gate”.

This always happens at the gate? Why? Well, y’know, American Telephone and Telegraph, and Thomas Edison, would KILL for the transmission quality that a leash has between the human and the dog. I can almost guarantee you that one time, some time ago, something bad happened at the gate that affected those Goldens. And I’m as sure as treats are good that it wasn’t the dog’s fault at all. But I’ll also bet that their human got upset. The man got upset—angry, scared, frustrated. And the golden’s, out of absolute in-tune-ness with their owner, learned that whatever happened at the gate is bad. So now, every time they are at the gate they sense their owner’s trepidation, and react. Of course nothing happened at the gate that overtly affected those goldens, but the man was scared that it would. The dogs read that and went after me and other dogs. “That which we manifest is before us”. This man created his own reality by telegraphing to his dogs that there is a problem at the gate. But there was no problem. My three siblings were resting under a tree, mom was talking to a friend, and I was about 10 feet away looking at everyone, and, well, I must admit—talking. There were other dogs running and playing. No one threatened these dogs. But his owner non-verbally told them otherwise.

Mom tells a story of when she got stopped for—shock—speeding by a State Policeman. Have I told you we call mom “lead foot”? He also, fortuitously, happened to be a Canine Trooper and his German Shepherd was in the back of the patrol car. Also, fortuitously or not, our Dakota Dog and baby Ditto Dog were in mom’s Jeep. Prior to this, mom had been having “issues” with Dakota. Seems he had started biting. In particular people who came to the door. So as mom and Trooper Phil were talking, Trooper Phil asked if he could pet Dakota. Seeing instant jail time, a state trooper with no face, and not enough money in the world to get a bond, mom said, “um I’m afraid he’ll bite you”. Trooper Phil then gave mom and Dakota the lesson of a lifetime. If mom doesn’t act nervous, Dakota will be fine. Not wanting to argue and really wanting to get on her way, mom acquiesced and immediately felt her heart in her throat when she saw Trooper Phil darn near crawl into the back of the car through the window. What did Dakota do? He kissed Trooper Phil all over, and got his wig-wag going at pretty high RPM’s. Mom was floored. Duh, mom. Took a speeding warning (not only did she get a lesson she DIDN’T get a ticket *HOWL*) to learn that SHE controlled the situation. That Dakota was so in tuned with her that he could sense her every emotion. When she got nervous, Dakota thought he had to protect her. From that day on, Dakota never bit another person (well except the one time the Fed Ex guy scared mom accidentally). That which we manifest…

We have a friend who has a golden retriever who is SO in tuned with her emotions, so perceptive of how she is feeling that the golden became physically ill during the time period her owner was in a bad relationship. It wasn’t until months later that our friend figured out that her golden got sick after she and her boyfriend began dating and got better after they broke up. That which we manifest….

So, while I didn’t want to have my ego even more bruised by sharing my story, mom and I both felt it was worthy, if anything, to get you to realize that you have to think about how you’re feeling or acting because “That which you manifest is before you”. And your dog knows it. It’s not bad dogs…it’s when bad things happen to good dogs.

Thanks for reading everyone. As always your comments are welcome. Hope you were Bearmused today!