Living with a Dog
It’s hard to explain. What is it like living with a dog for 12 years. It’s a family extension that seems to happen unexpectedly in most cases, and then quickly becomes one of the closest relationships that a human will ever have. Now I don’t think all humans form a strong bond with their dog, however a lot will. Those that look beyond the fact that a dog is a mere animal but in fact an extremely emotional intelligent being on a level even surpassing humans will form an even closer bond. Both will instinctively form a bond where each will know when to trust each other.
It can be hard to describe the bond that forms. On its most basic level you become attuned to routines that are needed for a dog to thrive. The morning walk, the scheduling of regular meal times, the afternoon walk, and training will become the foundation of your relationship. Once this routine becomes a sequence that your dog trusts and can rely on they will then learn to read your day by day routines and begin to intertwine themselves in it. The basis of this relationship is trust and active participation. If you break either one of those then your dog will know. It won’t be the relationship that it could be.
Probably what happens is that dogs are bought in families with young children, where the children have priority focus. This is a positive thing but the relationship will always be different if one can’t put in the work into developing the routine. In a similar way to teams that either train or work closely for a long period of time become a tight unit, the same is for yourself and a dog. It’s the work that is put in that will form the bond that is the outcome.
The routine forms as a method of communication between Human and Dog. Not all communication needs to be verbal. The dog unable to fully understand the human language, and the human unable to understand dog language need a separate way to communicate trust. In humans trust can be earned verbally, however between dogs and humans trust needs to be earned by routines.
This trust is something that is truly unique. It’s then one can realise how dogs and humans form an essential team. Both needing each other and depending on each for survival. From a modern human perspective, survival can be as simple as mental health, or just being that extra bit active, or companionship. After many years it becomes difficult to know what we are dependent on each for. It’s only at the end, since dogs years on this planet are shorter than what it should be, when their time on earth has come to an end that we realise what we have depended on them for. At this point in time the tears are real and the separation painful.
