Dog Years

     The time is fast approaching the end of the first year of the dog.  The tiny white puppy that graced our home last Christmas.  Much has happened since that time.

     There are times I  have to remind myself that I really wanted a dog.  Times like finding the roll of toilet paper strung from one end of the house to the other, shredded into tiny bits.  Or realizing that as we entered the house from a recent walk, he had successfully snatched a piece of dried manure, usually from a feline source, and then wants to play 'catch me if you can'.   Even the time I found the chewed up ink pen on the white comforter made me second guess my sanity at wanting a dog.

     But, as these words flow from my fingertips, I can think of far more times that this dog has brought joy, happiness and laughter into this home.  Those times outweigh his mischievous antics.

     I have even tried to convince myself that I got lots more things done before the year of the dog.  After all, it is like having a four legged toddler in the house.  A living ball of energy whom makes it necessary to know his whereabouts at all times.   I was even going to prove this point by checking on last years' business records, but I was wrong, sales are up.  In fact, I have actually accomplished more this past year than I thought possible.

     Runtly, the Jack Russel Terrier, has past his first birthday.  In dog years, compared to human years, that makes him eight years old.  I guess that figure comes from the fact than an animal physically develops so much faster than the supposed smartest species of the planet, us.  

     I think there is another reason for this gauge of longevity measurement.  Since dogs, or any animal, have no time keeping method, they do not have a clue as to what day it is......nor do they care.  Most of us have experienced one of those times when we have taken a long nap, wake up and then wonder what day it is.  I knew someone, a long time ago, that did this very thing and upon awakening, demanded to know why the sun was rising in the west......Anyway, every time Runtly wakes from a nap, of which he takes several throughout the day, it is a brand new day to him. So, if my math is correct, which it often is not, a dog year consists of 2920 days.  If the dog naps eight times a day, the dog has experienced 8 days to our one and therefore by the end of the year, the dog has lived 8 years.  That makes perfect sense to me.

     Every waking moment for Runtly is a happy one.  There are things to do, things to explore and he does not have one thing to worry about.  We should probably learn something from this.  That it is much better to be happy than to worry.  That it is much more fun to explore and play than to sit around and stew over some useless tidbit that has no real bearing on our life or maybe is not really any of our business in the first place.

     Happiness does not come from an outside source, but there are things that can take place to make us realize how easy it can be to choose being happy.  Like when I woke the other morning, looked in the mirror and thought, "Oh, great, another white hair in my eyebrow.".  Then I discovered it was a dog hair, that indeed made me happy.