Well...
I don't know if dogs come into this world with souls, but I do know they leave this world with one, cut from the fabric of our own.
They become a cornerstone of our lives. We spend countless hours raising them to realize their potential. Sleepless nights are spent tending to their illnesses or recovering them from unsanctioned walkabouts. They accompany us on adventure and misadventure alike. They are there for the births of our children and every other major milestone in our lives. The very luckiest of us spend anywhere from ten to eighteen years with these amazing creatures as our constant companions and confidants.
And how do we go on? How do we look past the empty dog houses they leave behind? How do we live without their voice in the choir? The bond is a symbiosis between human and animal unlike any other. They're born into our hands, and become an extension of our senses, of our very being.
How do we carry on when a part of us is gone?
We hear their voices in the howls of their children.
We see reflections of them in their offspring.
We look across the dog yard at the faces of the pups they left behind and see their mother's silly grin or her goofy brand of tippy taps. We see them in their weird quirks in body language, the way they stand or wag their tail. We see their father's eyes and his deep soft coat. Our best friends live on in them. That's their legacy entrusted to us to honor.
Dogs teach us some of life's hardest lessons, sometimes at their expense, which is in turn how dogs also teach us forgiveness, for others, and ourselves. They teach us humility, compassion, patience, and sacrifice. They push us out of our comfort zones and show us we're stronger than we give ourselves credit for. They alert us to and protect us from danger. They detect bombs, seizures, blood sugar levels, cancer. They help the blind see. They find our lost loved ones. They let us cry into their fur. Help us up off the floor when our knees fail us. They push us out of bed when the world seems too heavy to carry alone. They give us someone to whom we can ascribe the voices in our heads. They pull us through blizzards and across untold stretches of wilderness.
Indeed, the whole of humanity would not be what it is today without dogs.
Neither would you.
Neither would I.
