LIVE LIKE A DOG

Jet is my foster mom.  She rescued me from a kill shelter in Texas.  She writes so my homage (pretty cool word for a dog) to her is writing my own dog blog.  For my new readers, this column isn’t for my creature kind; I write to teach lessons to humans.  – They are in need of learning a lot more than animals that are born with most of the knowledge they need to live fully.  This brings me to my topic of the week: living a better life.

I’ve noticed the older humans get, the more bad habits they pick up.  They laugh less, work more, and insert moments of joy in their schedule like appointments.  Humans would be better off living the tenants of a dog.  Specifically:

Love abundantly.

Forgive quickly.

Play enthusiastically.

Greet warmly.

Bark softly.

Growl lovingly.

Chase purposefully.

Give regularly.

Serve fervently.

Seriously, you have to admit this is a good way to use your time on earth. Test my theory.  If you lived this way and died tomorrow, wouldn’t you say it was a great life? Of course for a dog (or any pet), how well we live or die is, to a certain degree, based on how we are treated by humans.  – Guess that’s true for humans too.

So my lesson of the week: live like a dog and you will live fully and die honorably.

LETTER FROM A FAN

Dear Parker: I was playing with my pal, Rosco - a cool Boxer - and he accidentally bit me. He was VERY sorry. The area is all puffed up like the ball in my toy box. Do I need to do something about it? – Frisky from Seattle.

Dear Swollen in Seattle:

A dog bite, even accidental, must be treated due to the bacteria 

hanging out in our canine mouths. The bite, though small, could 

have been deep enough to reach the subcutaneous tissues and 

muscles. It’s pretty typical for a small bite to close up on the 

outside and seal in the bacteria inside. This causes infection 

and the bump you see is an abscess that will likely need to be 

excised (not as bad as being neutered) and with antibiotics you 

will be good to go. Get your humans to take you to the vet – 

pronto!              Your Pal, Parker