Life From a Dog’s Perspective…

I have a friend who has two Lakeland Terriors as pets; one called Rowdy and the younger one named Miss Emma.  Rowdy is Emma’s great grandmama and shows her no respect but tolerates her depending on her temperment that day.  Poor Rowdy is in the stages of old age (16 yrs).  Her front legs don’t seem to bend, she can’t see and bumps into everything or everyone, and startles herself so much when she has gas to pass that she gets up and trodds off to another spot to nap.  Rowdy has given us a lot of laughter in spite of her old age.  She’s the perfect example of how we have to laugh at our misgivings so we can survive life.  Rowdy never gives up – even though she walks outside on the backyard deck to do her “business” and walks off the end of the deck because she can’t see the end of it, she just needs the aid of our assistance to pick her up out of the snow that’s up past her head and she’s fine again, ready to go!   As Miss Emma does circles around her and has the advantage of running around the house with favourite toys, Rowdy is like the turtle and the hare, she just keeps her pace and happily enjoys her life as it is.  I wonder if her memory banks still work; if she remembers herself as a young pup and all the pleasures she enjoyed running around in the fields at the kennels and all the love she gave her favourite toys, not to mention people in her life.  She has given so much joy to her owners and those who she befriended.  I ask myself, can I learn from Rowdy?  Can I laugh at my aching bones, my eyesight that gets worse each passing year ?  How about still enjoying my favourite toys?  No more aerobic classes or riding bikes, skating or trying to keep  pace with my grandkids.  So what that when I have gas I can’t hold in any more everyone in the room hears it!  Like Rowdy, I have a full life of family and friends who love me the way I am.  Who take care of me, feed me when necessary and take me for my check-ups when I need them.  What have I learned from Rowdy?  That life is still great in your old age if you have a great attitude!  Thanks Rowdy, I love you lots!