In the distance I hear a small bark. As sleep leaves me I awaken quickly to comfort my
puppy from a puppy nightmare. His little body jerking as he continues to bark at something scary deep within his own mind.
I then look at the clock: 4:00 a.m. As if on schedule, I know he needs to go outside. Stumbling in the dark, I find my robe and lift him off the bed. He is soft and silky after the bath he received the night before. As I take him out the front door to perform his ritual, I am greeted by the sounds of spring. It’s magical this time in the morning when the world is still asleep yet nature is awake and ready for another day.
As I stand in the darkness listening to the beauty of nature, he sits diligently by my side and watches. Birds chirping in the tree next to me, I stand in stillness listening. I turned to look at this little white ball of fur and without thinking ask, “Do you hear that?” Looking down at my puppy, a sadness suddenly wraps its way around my heart. “Of course you can’t,” I replied out loud. “You never will.”
Breeding his mother an Australian Sheppard (Merl to Merl), we had one stillborn and two Lethal whites, one blind and deaf and this little guy was deaf. We were ignorant in our first time breeding and did not realize the cause of our mistake until to late. My heart swells with the love I feel for such a tiny ball of fur.
Reaching down I stroke his soft fur, he looks up at me and smiles, and then as if on queue something spooks him and he runs to the front porch barking away at a shadow only he saw. Chuckling to myself, I reach down and pick him up speaking out loud even though he cannot hear. We walk over to the side of the house in the direction of what spooked him. See, I replied, nothing here. Holding him he continues to make baby dog growls, the sound vibrates from his diaphragm and I laugh once more.
The birth of seven puppies reopened my heart, I have not felt love like this for such a long time. Crying each time as one by one was adopted by good families all six left the nest but not this one. This little one was here to stay. I had decided to train and work with this little guy, he was part of the family. Yet as time continues on I often wonder, who is doing the training, who really is the teacher. I have come to the conclusion that man is the animal, and dogs, well dogs are the trainers, with their unconditional love, patience and loyalty, I have come to an understanding, that it is I who is being taught and the little precious animal that I hold in my arms well, he of course is the teacher.
And the lesson is called love!
