Man’s Best Friend
In Dallas yesterday, walking in with hope to meet the family with very little.
A young man, drowning in booze and behavior that combined was a recipe already for ambulances, hospitals, bruises, cuts, shame, blame and guilt. What to do!?
As if on cue, the family pet chimed in with her two cents - like a mix between a meow and a bark, she echoed the rest of the family voices: AGREE TO HELP, ALREADY!
My pooch, Bandit the Dog, first came to me as a puppy long before I was clean, sane or sober. One day while in a fit of insanity, I drove four hours, back to the breeder from whence he came. I dropped him off and gave a tongue lashing about how “this dog has made me crazy!!!” She received the dog in silence. I drove off in to the dark dark night, without the one friend that had seen me behind closed doors at my worst.
The next day I called the breeder in panic - IS MY DOG THERE WITH YOU? YES?! I’M ON MY WAY TO GET HIM BACK NOW!
“No,” she said. And stuck to it.
Weeks later, and many calls later including two letters filled with remorse, I did get Bandit the Dog back. Today, all these years later, I wonder when he shies from me on occasion, if it’s old fears creeping back to the front of the brain. Perhaps a tone of voice, that reminds him of the companion from the years before I got help. Before I was able to stop, and stay stopped.
If any of you are dog experts, chime in. Is such a thing even possible?!
Anyway, here’s to pooches, and purrs, and birds of all different feathers that often figure in to the lonely lives of those struggling with behavior that stops them from having full, rich, healthy, joy-filled lives. The strength we have in making change begin in the lives of those we love is enormous and already present. It’s not something you have to find, or purchase. And power is found in the most unlikely of moments.
Be encouraged, and touch this hope.
Arf!!!