We have many photos uploaded to the DogCast Radio site, and each one, along with each comment is checked and approved by a one of us to ensure it’s relevant and suitable. The other day I came across one that immediately made my eyes fill with tears. You can see the photo attached to this post. It’s a bog standard shot of a Springer Spaniel, and it’s slightly out of focus, but that’s not what made me cry.
The comment that accompanied this photo was a simple one. It just said, “this is jerry my dog who i love verry much”. I looked again at the photo, this time through a blur of tears, and instead of seeing a slightly out of focus snapshot, I saw a much loved dog.
There are many people in our lives that we love, at least there are if we’re lucky, and each one of them is to be cherished. I’m not diminishing those other relationships at all, but the strength of the bond we share with our dogs never fails to touch me. Let’s face it, if we really work hard we can establish some communication between us, although what our dog is thinking remains largely a mystery to us. Despite the differences between us, we can live closely together and establish a deep connection. I would say we grow to love one another.
I know I love my dogs, and I believe they love me. It looks and feels like love anyway, and I have no better word for it. Perhaps that is why the simple but honest comment about the Springer photo touched me; because I identify with the sentiment.
So imagine the horror I felt when I read the story that hit the headlines in the UK, about the poor dog who was shot by a neighbour because he barked too early in the morning. Within minutes the dog died in his owner’s arms on the way to the vet. While I can empathise with the distress that inconsiderate noise can cause, I can not understand shooting at a dog. The pain inflicted on the dog and his owners is unforgiveable.
Maybe to non dog owners, the story will be dismissed as the loss of “just” a dog. But to anyone who has loved a dog – who has been greeted enthusiastically at the door, who has been accompanied on countless walks, whose departures have been watched by mournful doggy eyes, and who’s had a soulful face resting in their lap – to us it’s a dreadfully unfair cutting short of a wonderful relationship, that must have been devastating.
So when you cuddle, walk, feed or just spend time with your dog today, enjoy it to the full. Ours dogs give us so much companionship, and enrich our lives in so many ways. We should never let that bond be belittled; instead we should celebrate it proudly.
To end this post on a more cheerful note, if like me you cried at the Futurama episode involving Fry’s dog, there’s a Facebook group for you, it’s called I cried for the dog episode of Futurama and it was welcome proof to me that I’m far from being the only who gets daft about dogs! Needless to say, I am now a member of the group, are you?
Take care
Julie x