February Love Stories

 Happy February!  This month, with Valentines Day, I’m going to focus a few blogs on love. Not the romantic kind of love that our commercial culture focuses on but all the other ‘loves’ in life. Animals. Nature. Activities. Creativity. 

I want to remind myself, this February, of everything that makes my heart happy, my soul refreshed and my body healthy. 

My first love story is about my dog, Darby. 

A few years back, I applied to adopt a Career Change Guide Dog. I’ve loved and trained many dogs in my lifetime and my last sweet dog was my first Career Changer. She was not a pet, she was my pal. Wherever I went, so did she. When she died after a long, loving life I was bereft. 

Finally, after many months, I applied to Guide Dogs for the Blind to adopt another Career Changer. I filled out the application. I interviewed over the phone. And I waited. After 9 long months, I drove out to the Guide Dog campus to see if I was the right fit to be this Career Changer’s new person. 

It was love at first sight. 

He was beautiful. But it was his warm, sweet brown eyes and slightly lopsided ear that captured my heart. I couldn’t wait to take him home. I had a new bed. New bones. New collar and leash all ready for him. I wanted him to be as comfortable with me as he had been with his puppy raiser. 

I can’t believe it’s been 3 years already! Darby is so much fun. He is also silly. Sweet. Playful. Exuberant. And yes, a little mischievous. And I love all of it.

He loves to run and chase balls but he doesn’t always love to bring them back. He’s a big chewer, so his toys need to be extra tough. He loves his daily walk around the lake and park. 

When someone he loves is coming home, he knows before I do. I know now, when he gets up and goes to the door and back to me that someone is on their way. He greets everyone he meets with joyous, bouncy enthusiasm. Sometimes, a little too much, but that’s my Darby. 

Great thanks. 

I can’t begin to count all the ways I thank my sweet Darby’s Guide Dog Puppy Raiser. This woman took a young puppy into her home and heart. She lovingly cuddled, petted, fed and played with him. She taught him to sit and stay and lie down and walk on a leash. She worked with him to learn to be the eyes for someone else. 

And even though he didn’t make it through all the rigorous tests to become a guide dog, he learned from her, the most important lesson: love.  

I want her to know how much I love her sweet, black lab puppy. How everyday I wake up to his sweet face and puppy kisses. And how grateful I am for all her loving care and training that shaped Darby into the sweet, adorable combo of: Tigger from Pooh and Scooby doo. 

That is why I love my Darling Darby(doodle doo).

  

Darling Darby

I’m smitten. He’s just so adorable and smart and funny. I could say I’ve never loved like this before, but I’d be lying. I’ve loved and lost like this many times in my life. And while the losing part sucks big time, the love is so wonderful, the memories so sweet, it is worth it all. 

He greets me every morning. Even before I’m really awake, he gets up and sits by my bed and waits for my hand to reach out from underneath the covers. I reach out and pet his ears and head and he twirls around happy to greet me and another day. 

Walks in the park. Playtime. And Treats.  

We walk around the lake near our home everyday, sometimes twice a day. Darby loves it. And he’s learned so much in 5 months about good walking behavior. He heels by my side without lunging or pulling. Ok, he still rubber-necks at oncoming dogs but we’re working on it. 

I’ve had frisbee dogs and stick chasers but Darby’s is a catcher. He loves it best when I throw his holee roller up high in the air, so he can jump up, catch it and run with it. He will bring it back if I call him but he doesn’t always want to drop it. It’s his toy and he wants to keep it or play tug or keep away. We’re working on ‘give’ and ‘drop’ which he will do more now, but he still has that puppy play mentality. And I have to admit, it makes me laugh. 

Treats are a given. Believe me, I know the protocol on working for a treat, watching his calorie intake and avoiding begging behaviors. But when he sits there, on his ‘place’ so nicely with those sweet, brown eyes staring me, I fold. Almost every time. But I use part of his daily food intake for those moments so I don’t feel too guilty. 

My new Lab assistant. 

As a studio artist, I work at home. I have one part of my studio inside and one part out in the garage. Outside or inside, Darby is there to assist me in anyway he can. 

Do I need him to bring serenity and calmness to my space? He assists by laying and sleeping silently on his bed. Do I need him to watch the garage while I set up to throw? He’s on it. Do I need him to stay in one place while I carry trays of work to the kiln? He’s got this. 

When I was glazing this past week using a new set up, I had to reposition my space to make it all work. Darby gently went to his new position and sat at attention. Once I was settled and working, he settled in keeping a close eye on me at all times in case he was needed. 

What can you say to that face? Really. It’s darling. And I’m so blessed that he’s here with me. My Darling Darby.