Stella in grey cable knit

Those of you who know me will appreciate that I have felt keenly the absence of a dog in my life. However this is not the time for another and so I resort to borrowing the neighbours' dogs to take for walks and patting some I find out and about.

Just this weekend though I had an additional joy. Stella came to stay for one night as her humans were heading off to a party. She came with her bed and blanket and her pyjamas. I kid you not. Her bowl and her dinner and breakfast, all prepared. So I was left with the easy part of remembering what it was like to have a dog in the house. Well it brought me right back to the ground. They remind you that life is not about you - but mostly about them- somehow they are experts at getting us to care enormously about their welfare and their comfort, hence the jammies and the treats and I am sure much else besides. She jumped onto my bed and I found myself reliving the moments when my much larger dog Tara would do the same, and so as not to disturb this blissfully snoring dog I end up on the edge of the bed, practically falling out of it. 

They are there to remind us of what a "no agendas" in life is all about. Yes, no hidden aims, no point scoring, just simple true companionship and love- of the very best kind. Pure and simple and without criticism or fanfare, one that celebrates you just the way you are. I guess we celebrate them back and that is where the grounding comes in. As we set off it is no longer about just me and my petty problems. We make time for taking this all important walk, heading out into the sunshine with them, letting loose in both our body and our thoughts, but knowing we are never alone in that time.We both come back the stronger and the happier for it. We both will eat our dinners with relish!

We had fun and I tried to be a good human -they are good to us so why shouldn't we be ? Their ability to kick start our caring quotient is unparalleled. If they could write this up as a some kind of a business model for the 21st Century they would be laughing all the way to the pet food store.