The owner of the dog lay in bed until after 10:00 a.m. with the dog’s body curled up next to hers in the blankets. After a brief phone call, she began to weep loudly. The dog, still in his relaxed position, pricked up his ears. At the first shriek, the dog’s head whipped around to look at the owner. She rolled over and buried her face in the pillow to absorb her screams. The shrieking and weeping went on for a minute or two, then the owner rolled back over and reached for a kleenex from the nightstand. The dog got up and walked to the head of the bed, tail wagging and ears down. As the owner continued to weep loudly, the dog began to lick her face.
“Ew, gross!” she said. “Don’t lick my face.” She pulled a kleenex over her mouth to protect it. The dog walked to the foot of the bed and crouched down, facing away from the woman, who went back to ignoring him. He was almost laying down, but with his legs folded right under him. After another minute, with the owner sobbing, yelling curses at the ceiling and blowing her nose, the dog stepped down from the mattress and walked away.
The sobs gradually subsided. The dog walked back into the room and sat next to the bed with his head hanging down. The woman muttered and wiped her face. After another minute he lifted his head and fixed his gaze on her. He sat there, his head barely clearing the height of the mattress, with his eyes locked on hers. He didn’t get back in bed and after a few minutes the owner got up. As she left the room, the dog rose to his feet, tail wagging again.
Anonymous – Good story. Thanks. I never knew how unafraid dogs can be of emotions that would scare the hell out of many humans ( especially men). What impressive creatures, those canines.
I adopted my dog through similar circumstances to yours (my husband, who I married late in life, really wanted one) and I came to love him slowly. But his place in my heart was cemented shortly after I gave birth to my son. I had terrible postpartum depression–the kind where I wanted to kill myself, not my baby–and on a particularly bad morning when I couldn't stop sobbing, my mother was trying to force me to lie down and I asked for my dog.
"He's right behind you," she said. "He's been there the whole time."
I'm starting to wonder why we have so many disparaging expressions about dogs like "sick as a dog," "work like a dog," "dog-tired," "I wouldn't treat a dog that way," and curses like "cur" and "bitch." Dogs aren't so bad (and I'm not an animal lover).
animals and the very young model how to express our feelings and move on