My dog world is different from most folks. Most folks are "pet people". That is, they love their dogs, cats, ferrets or whatever, but they typically keep only one, two or even three pets. Pet people have 20 pounds of pet food on hand and a box or two of treats.
The "dog people" world is a little different. They might keep what seems like a crazy number of dogs to the uninitiated. Dog people understand and use terms such as "winner's bitch" and "best of opposite sex to best of breed". They might grow concerned when their stores of dog food on hand drops below 100 pounds and their last 20 pound box of dog treats. Dog people may spend their weekends traveling hundreds of miles to obscure country fair grounds, or city convention centers to attend dog shows. They spend hours grooming their charges, and spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars monthly on handlers, grooming, dog show entry fees and costs to win ribbons for their scrapbooks and bragging rights for their breeding, obedience or agility programs. They sleep in motels, vans, tents or RVs. Their exercise pens, dog crates, grooming tables and pooper scoopers are always packed and ready for the road.
I live life as part of a dog pack. I live life somewhere between the pet people and the dog people. And there is something to be learned from the balance between those two worlds. My hope is to say some of that here.
Let's see, I did say that I live with pack of dogs. Our Golden Retriever represents the sporting group. The terrier group is represented by our Norwich and Border Terriers. Our Mini Poodles and French Bulldogs are from the non-sporting group and our Toy Poodles are, of course, from the toy group. Hope I didn't leave anyone out.
These dogs are permanent residents of our home. Occasionally, other dogs come to us for shorter stays. Those visitors are entrusted to us by breeder friends. They come to my wife - our resident dog whisperer of sorts - for some training and socialization, or for obedience and conformation evaluation.
Most of these dogs will leave us and go to homes as pets. Some will go to show handlers for conformation showing, and some go back to their breeder-owners for breeding. Some have come back, retired from the show life or from having a litter or three for their breeder. They've earned a comfy retirement in a loving dog home and we are fortunate to have them.
I have been blessed to meet so many great little canine souls. I've observed how the pack dynamics change with each new personality introduction. I am learning from these little guys and girls about how to live in the moment.
Dogs don't think about the big play they had yesterday. They don't make plans for tomorrow. Dogs are only thinking about or reacting to the here and now. They might be excited by you, their person, who just walked in the room. They might be enjoying their nap, or their chewy bone. Dogs aren't thinking about this afternoon or this evening. Happy dogs are comforted by familiar surroundings and their daily routine and have no concern that their next meal will go missing.
There is indeed something to be learned from our canine friends who live naturally in the moment. Here is where I plan to share some of the things I've learned from the dogs and from the dog people.
