[nagdu] Re Annoying Behavior
Cathryn Bonnette
cathrynisfinally at verizon.net
Wed May 26 18:46:54 UTC 2010
I'm in total agreement!
Cathryn
-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 12:39 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Re Annoying Behavior
This is beautifully written. I'm not the person that started the thread
but I love this.
-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Elizabeth Rene
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 2:56 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] Re Annoying Behavior
I was touched, yesterday, by the story of the German Shepherd dog guide
who
didn't want to eat her dinner without her human companion nearby.
This seemed so sad to me as I thought of my seven Labrador guide dogs.
The
owner needed to be busy outside the kitchen at feeding time, and found
her
dog's refusal to eat alone to be a problem.
NB: If this story is about you, gentle owner, I apologize for not
remembering your name. You deserve to be addressed directly. Let me
just
tell you about my own experience and thinking about feeding dogs. If
you
want to write directly to me, please feel free.
I love to cook and to feed people. It gives me great pleasure to savor
their company and enjoyment of what I've made, and to express my
fondness
for them through food and a relaxing evening. For most of my
professional
life, I have worked a 50-60-hour week, and have known what it is to be
busy.
So these evenings of cooking and entertaining have been oases from
stress
for me.
My Labradors have all wolfed their twice-daily meals, and have not
minded if
I stepped away as they ate. But they've all wanted me near while
drinking
water, to the extent that they've stopped drinking if I moved away.
Each of them has shown me some way--by stopping to lick me, by flipping
me a
splash of water, or by washing me when they were done--that they wanted
to
share the experience of "dining" together.
I've always seen this to be a tender and sweet expression of my dogs'
love
for me, and have found deep peace in these moments.
Though sometimes I'd like to be doing something else, I've learned that
mealtimes and watering for my dogs signify nurture just as much as they
do
the slaking of hunger and thirst.
And so I try to consciously offer my dogs' food and water with praise,
and
with the same loving attention that I give my friends. And I do so with
gratitude.
Praise and regular attention to their needs is all our dogs ask from us,
and
they work so hard for us in return.
How lucky we are that our dogs communicate so clearly that we matter to
them, and that they want us near.
Best to all busy humans and your dogs.
Elizabeth
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