This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 1:16 am and is filed under Life Stress, Stress Relief From Natural Disasters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Collum, as a puppy, deliberately sitting on our cat and laughing
First of all, you have to realize that I don’t even like dogs. I am a cat person. I didn’t want the dog poop in the back yard, feeling the pressure of having to walk the dog or the guilt if I didn’t. I didn’t want the barking at night or the hair all over the house. You don’t have any of those problems with cats.
For years I told my husband he would have to choose between a dog or me. But for Christmas, eight years ago, the decision of whether or not to get a dog was taken out of my, and my husband’s hands. Without my knowledge and certainly without my consent, our adult children got together and bought a puppy for my husband.
When they brought this tiny ball of fur with ears longer than his body into the living room and gave him to my husband, it was love at first sight. What could I do? I was stuck with a dog. He was a mix: half Australian Cattle Dog and half Rotweiler, with the coloring of the Rotweiler but the size of the Australian Cattle Dog.
We didn’t know what to call him, so that is what we named him: C0llum.
All the reasons I didn’t want a dog still applied. He did poop all over the yard. We didn’t have the heart or discipline to keep him outside so he became an inside/outside dog, which meant that he tracked mud and dirt, rocks and garbage into the house. Our house was covered in dog hair.
Because my husband was gone twelve hours a day, working and commuting, it became my job to walk the dog. So I did feel guilty if I didn’t walk him. And I had to endure the sad looks and hanging head when I left him at home.
Our dog, who was gentle with everyone, absolutely hated the mailman and turned into this vicious sounding attack dog at the very sight of him. The mailman refused to deliver our mail any more, so we had to pick it up at the post office. We even had to pay for it.
But an interesting thing happened. It is very hard to maintain indifference to something who turns into a paraxym of joy at the very sight of you! He was always waiting at the door when I came home, wagging his tail in delight, grinning his doggy grin and pushing against me until I would pet him and scratch his ears.
He was always as physically close to me as he could get. He slept in front of my bedroom door. Whenever and whereever I sat down, he would lie down at my feet – usually on my feet. To the point that I was always either stepping on him or tripping over him. Callum would put his head on my knee and look up at me with big soulful eyes at mealtime, hoping I would slip him a treat.
We have a suite upstairs which we rent to our daughter Shauna, her husband and their three children: age 3 3/4, 2 and 3 months. Shauna used to call C0llum up to their suite three times a day after meal time. He was better than the vacuum for cleaning up food spills.
Collum loved to play with the grand children. He patiently endured having them crawl of over him, pull his ears and tail. When they got too rough, he moved away.
He protected our home and we felt safe with him there. No one ever approached our yard without us knowing about it.
And then within a day, he was gone. For someone who never wanted a dog in the first place, he has left an amazingly big hole in our family and in my heart.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:33 am
We too had an unwanted addition of Zac a German Shepherd to our already fully occupied home of our two cats, Ash and Fat Cat. But its hard to ignore that steadfast loyalty. He was initially my youngest daughters dog with promises that “Mom -I will will walk him ,I will train him”. But as the years went by he became my dog, my companion. My eldest cat Ash loved him , lay with him and groomed him. Fat Cat was his play mate -chasing each other continuously around the pool. Many was the night during a storm that he would be so scared and come to our bed, lift the duvet and creep in trembling with me cradling him in my arms as I have so often done with my children.
A week ago he ran to me and pulled me into the garden -Fat Cat was sick-We had to put him to sleep. We were devastated -our entire family and the animals mourned him -but we wern’t given time to Mourn him as 6 days later Zac passed away. We now are mourning so deeply, Ash -the remaining cat looks for his ‘brothers’ everywhere. I haven’t had the heart to pick up he few pieces of poo as it sets me off, our housekeeper busts into tears everytime she find a piece of hair…it is so hard. Our home seems just like a house -empty -a piece of our history has gone -my children grew up to adulthood alonside these animals. Fat Cat and Zac -we miss you, we love you -RIP
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:02 am
I really identified with your comments Tish. I was surprised at how much grief I actually experienced when our dog died. I was so grateful that I’d received training in Emotional Freedom Technique. It helped me work through the grieving process much faster and in a much healthier way than I did the loss of my parents and son.
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:02 pm
It is joyfull to have found your blog! Just astounding! Your authorship style is delightful and the way you covered the subject with grace is commendable. I am intrigued, I take for granted you are an expert on this issue. I am subscribing to your incoming updates from now on.
January 5th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Thank you for your positive comments Antonio. It always feels great to be appreciated!
Sheryl
March 23rd, 2010 at 2:15 am
Thank you Antonio. I’m not sure what you mean by saying that I am an expert on the issue. Am I an expert on feeling stress or relieving stress? Grieving the death of our dog was just one of the stresses. I also lost both parents and my seven year old son. Certainly I have experienced a great deal of stress in my life. It actually led to a stress-related illness that put me in bed for three months. The medical system had no answers and I was told I would have to accept a limited lifestyle.
In many ways, this was an incredible blessing because it started me on a search outside of Western medicine. I studied complementary health and energy therapy for eight years and I got my health back. More important, I found out why I got sick in the first place! And most important, I learned what to do so that it would never happen again!
The most effective stress-relief tool I found in my eight years of research was Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT. If you would like to know more, I invite you to visit my website: http://www.SherylStanton.com
April 7th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Thank you Antonio. It is always wonderful to have one’s efforts appreciated.
Sheryl
February 10th, 2011 at 1:45 am
I was surprised at how much grief I actually experienced when our dog died.