Better with Dogs

Boy, it's been far too long since I posted anything here. I thought I'd use the blog to chronicle Remy's puppyhood and he's 8+ months old already and huge! I guess I forgot just how much work a puppy can be (and I mean that in a good way...no complaints). Given the choice between playing with my puppy and blogging, I guess the puppy wins.

Tonight I'm on a business trip and the dogs are staying home with my husband. I've only been gone a day and I miss them all. And when I found myself with a bit of free time today, after my meetings ended, I was amazingly non-productive. I thought I would relish having some quiet time to catch up on my writing, my reading and maybe a little channel surfing for some sappy movie my husband would never watch with me.

I didn't end up doing much of any of that. I was restless. I went for a walk and I missed having the dogs with me. I sat at my desk and I missed having the dogs at my feet. I ate dinner and I missed having a husband to chat with and two dogs staring longingly at my dinner plate. I channel surfed and landed on Animal Planet. Coincidence? I don't think so. Although it wasn't conscious.

I even missed getting up at the crack of dawn to a whining puppy.  I woke up at the crack of dawn this morning anyway, out of habit I guess. What's worse is it was the crack of dawn in a time zone two hours earlier than where I live.

Anyway, I guess I could blame it on jet lag or sleep deprivation or poor travel diet. But I think part of the reason this day seems incomplete is because there weren't any dogs in it. When my husband and I travel without our dogs, we find ourselves fawning over every dog we pass on the street. When we haven't scratched a dog behind the ears in a few days we comment to each other how much we miss not only our dogs, but dog energy in general. There's just something about dogs that feels very real and very much at home, no matter where you are.

I'm not saying anything here that dog people don't already know, and non-dog-people probably think it sounds downright weird. But I really do think dogs make us better people. At least it's true for me. My dogs keep me from spinning off into flights of nervous worry or navel-gazing -- you know, that kind of thinking with which we humans can drive ourselves batty. Dogs are, for me, largely an antidote --at times even a vaccine -- for that affliction. They remind me that we must occasionally drop everything and play. They remind me that the day is better when I take a nap in the middle of it. They remind me that work is not more important than dinner. They remind me to take each day as it comes and that life is a journey so I should not be wasting my time worrying or navel-gazing because those sorts of things get me nowhere.

Yep. I am definitely better with dogs around. If I had my way, there would be a dog in every hotel room, every business meeting, even in every board room, just to remind us all of what's important as we make our big decisions.