6 habits to learn from the furry guru!

New Year is a time to look back at all the good things in our life and of course plan for the next year. Our pooches make our life beautiful…there’s never a dull moment when they are around. So, this New Year, let’s recollect the good habits we learn from them.

My pet dog Bruno (a Beagle), who is now five years old, has been with us since he was just 32days old. The five years of life that we have lived with him are undoubtedly the most amazing years ever for us. A lot is always said about the unique and unmatchable companionship that a dog extends to a human’s life. With my five years of experience with my dog, what I wonder apart from being a great companion, how excellent teacher is this living being.

1. Forever young
It is said that you grow younger if you have a dog. The 30-40 minutes’ walk for Bruno, both in the morning and evening is compulsory for Bruno. This has made us more disciplined; he wakes us up in the morning for his walk. If one of us (me and my husband) is already awake, he would go and wake the other person up. Unless not possible, we try that both of us go for a walk along with him. That walk time is so relaxing and playful for us also, we get the fresh air in the morning and exercise in the evening, and we have some fruitful discussions over the walk which gets missed out during the usual times, due to our work schedules mostly. Besides, it keeps us physically fit and younger.
2. Tolerance
We are a nuclear family and both my husband and I go out for our respective works in the morning and come back in the evening like a usual office day.
Bruno is alone at home throughout the day. He has got used to the fact that he has to stay alone at home; I think he somehow knows our routine and the fact that we are going to come back in the evening. The amount of tolerance he shows in understanding us and adapting to our routine is commendable.
3. Unconditional love
The best instance when we get to know about our Bruno’s unconditional love is when we get home from office. One evening, my husband called me from office that he would get late and I didn’t like it since we had planned for the evening much earlier. Bruno waited at the door for more than three hours for my husband and finally when he came home, Bruno pounced on him with much more enthusiasm than usual and it was a grand welcome that brought a BIG smile on my husband’s face. Needless to say, my response was not that happy.
Bruno can sense our emotions like an expert. He can sense when we are happy, angry or sad. At these times he is constantly around us to check if we are fine and communicates his love in a million ways. He will not sleep until we sleep, if we are working late, he will sit with us and not go to sleep in the bedroom.
I love the way he sits outside the kitchen as if he has been waiting for me to make food for him for long. And finally when I give him the food, he finishes it and cleans the entire bowl nicely in the blink of an eye. That very moment is an enormously precious one for me.
4. Pass smiles around
When I walk around with Bruno, I see a lot of people (kids and elders) smiling looking at him, some come closer to pat him; some adore him from a distance. The kids adore him. This 5-10 minutes of joy that he passes into those kids’ lives and those 2-3 seconds of hearty smiles that he brings in people who adore him from their respective places, is unmatchable. There is an unexplainable connection between kids and dogs.
5. patience
When Bruno was small, he used to pounce on me when he knew I was giving him food and had developed a tendency to snatch the food item from my hands. I taught him to sit down if he wants something. It took five minutes for me to teach him ‘to sit’ and this learning he has himself extended. He just sits down if he wants anything, he will just sit and stare at us for all his wants.
The amount of patience he shows is remarkable. Under circumstances especially not in our control, we tend to lose our patience but he has taught me to keep cool and be patient to see things going right ultimately.
6. Be a child
A dog is after all a child who never grows up; you become a child with the dog and remain a child till he is there with you as a companion!
There may be many many more things which we learn from our pooches everyday…let’s all bask in their love and companionship all the year round. Happy New Year!