No, I didn´t plan to invite my dog into my bed. Yes, I know that it is scientifically proven that dog owner´s sleep quality drastically wanes if they are woken up by a devoted face-licking session every morning. And a few times during the night. But who could resist those cute little button eyes. Well, I admit, accompanied by a bad breath that would never be forgiven in a lover.
One year has gone by since my little Tibetan Spaniel/Pekinese Hugo came into my life. Since then we are inseparable. He was found on the street, covered in dirt and fleas. I fell in love with him as soon as I saw his image on the internet. Seems as if we were destined to go through life together. It turned out, he had been found by my neighbours and a few hours later he was my new companion. I was happy and scared at the same time. Owning a dog and living alone is not always an easy task. But the reward of a dog´s love is priceless.
My neighbour asked me not long ago if I love Hugo because he´s so well-behaved. People seem to forget that any misbehaviour of our dog is our own mistake. I feel Hugo getting nervous everytime I am not in a good mood. Your behaviour and condition is mirrored in your dog. And it needs a lot of dedication, patience and a bit of knowledge about dog training to make a dog a well-educated dog. No, when the dog enters your door, he needs to be well-behaved. If he´s not, he will be abandoned. End of story. There are no words to describe my disappointment in humans every time I see an abandoned dog on the street looking at me with sad eyes. Why? Because he was sad you were at work leaving him alone all day and destroyed your pillow out of boredom or dispair? Because you again walked him only ten minutes even if he´s a hunting dog that needs to be running a few hours a day in order to be satisfied?
If you pay just a little attention to your dog every day and walk him a bit longer, you will be rewarded with ever-lasting, unconditional love. More than humans can give you in the most cases, isn´t it? Well, ok, they could learn our language to be perfect. But maybe they are so perfect just because they don´t speak it.
I remember losing a lot of nerves with Hugo. He was not one of the easy-going ones, I had to fight for every tiniest piece of authority with a lot of patience and sometimes a small portion of despair. But he is my true companion, every day, in whatever shape I may be. I don´t know how my day would look like if he wouldn´t do his see-I´m-standing-on-only-two-legs-and-waving-to-you-I´ve-deserved-my-meal-earlier-dance. Or if I would enter the door and he wouldn´t come running with his guilty face in front of almost the whole content of my clothes basket. Or finding the furniture always in a perfect position. My, would that be a boring life.
