Life--condensed version

     I think everyone at some point in their life should have a dog.  This is not just because of how good it feels to come home to someone who greets us ecstatically and adores everything we say and do, or even because talking to the dog doesn't seem as strange as talking to ourselves .  People should have a dog because dogs show us life--the condensed version.  Remember those Reader's Digest abridged books?  They could fit three classic books in the amount of pages the author allotted for one.  Dogs, in their brief span on earth, have a lot to teach us about life.
     Thirteen years ago when our dog, Garth, was a puppy he followed us around like a . . .well, you know.  When he was in his toddler phase and we took him for a walk he stayed close by our heels because that was where he felt safe, much like any preschooler.  A couple months later when Garth was in his "teens" he ran ahead, regardless of what we told him.  He was satisfied with occasional glances back in our direction just to make sure we were around somewhere. Sound familiar?  This was followed by many happy years of companionship with our adult dog.  That is the stage of life Reed and I are in now, enjoying our grown children.
    But Garth is now in his late life stage. He has a hard time getting his hips off the floor.  Sometimes he will leave a tossed chunk of food laying on the carpet rather than get up, a sacrifice that would have been unthinkable before.  Garth is now stone deaf and has nearly lethal breath. The white on his muzzle is spreading to the top of his head.  He has grown a bumper crop of fatty tumors.  He still loves going for walks but lags further and further behind.  When I wait for him to catch up, he seems embarrassed.  He pants for quite a while after we get home and drinks a lot of water.  I have begun to shorten our morning walks.
     What have I learned from a non-English speaking teacher one fourth my age? Besides seeing 70 plus years of human life condensed into little over a decade, I have learned cleanliness is next to loneliness, not godliness.  The companionship of a pet more than makes up for the hair.  It is important to stop and smell the roses (and everything else) as we pass through life.  The same old routine can be exciting if you have enough imagination (poor pattern recognition and/or minimal intelligence).  Now that Garth is deaf and we both suffer from arthritic knees, I learn that the goodness of life is not about what we can do, it's about who we have.  When Garth dies we will learn anew to grieve and move on to love again.  A  dog's love is not undying, but it is unconditional.  If unconditional love is all we learn from our pet's condensed life, it is more than enough.