A Thank You Note to My Dogs

Thank you for choosing me.

Thank you for patiently waiting for me, and always showing me how happy you were just about my very existence. Whether I was gone 5 hours or 5 minutes, you always were my Happy Greeting Committee. Welcome back! It’s so great to see you! Life is so much better with you in it. Secondary was always, Hey, did you happen to bring me a treat? Can I smell your breath and see what you ate while you were away from me?

Thank you for listening to me, even when I was giving commands that didn’t make sense to you.

Thank you for always welcoming my belly rub or ear massage. Unlike the cats, you never got up and walked away, shunning my expressions of affection, and you certainly never bit me to show your displeasure.

Thank you for tolerating my amateurish attempts at performing Reiki to heal you. Who knows if it helped or not?

Thank you for eating hundreds of pounds of disgusting dry kibble, and then leaving such convenient little poop packages on the lawn, where they could be easily retrieved and disposed of.

Thank you for always coming running when I called your name.

Thank you for listening to me sing silly make-up songs to you and never judging whether I had talent for either singing or creating lyrics.

Thank you for climbing into my lap and demonstrating what true love, trust, and devotion feel like.

Thank you for allowing me to laugh at you when the groomer made terrible judgment calls with your haircuts.

Thank you for understanding the meaning of the word “ride,” and jumping into the car so you could be harnessed yet again.

Thank you for not digging up my flowers, and for tolerating without complaint when you lived outside in those years when I was young and clueless, or lived with only a measly concrete patio in the years when I was not-so-young and yet still clueless.

Thank you for barking with pure joy when you ran in the park, along the grass, at the beach, at the birds, at the rabbits, or to greet other dogs.

Thanks for keeping me truthful when I told other dog-walkers that you were friendly.

Thank you for curling up with me in bed and for not ripping out my throat while I slept, which I realize you were capable of and chose not to do, every single night.

Thank you for giving me so many funny stories to tell others, allowing me to be better company when socializing.

Thank you for barking ceaselessly and bravely defending me against the possum, squirrels, coyote, delivery people, and other unwelcome intruders.

Thank you for being my model of personal integrity.

Thank you for howling with joy.

Thank you for being my hound, yet always your own dog, every day.