Shake it off!

Dogs are not only great companions but we can learn things from them.

I take our Westie for a walk every morning, for both our sakes. Pearl is very friendly. Her primary goal in life is to play with everyone she meets. She wants to get up close and personal to all the cats. However, if she did get close, she would only smell them.

One morning, she met a Westie behind a little fence. Either they recognized the almost mirror image, or they were both ready to play because they began playing chase back and forth, looking very happy.

Another day, we walked near a home with two little dogs behind a wire fence. She touched her nose to their fence, but they were not having it. They growled and snapped. She kept walking, hopefully trying to greet them several times. When we reached the end of their fence, and they were not accepting of her attempts at friendship, she stopped and shook herself, then went back to walking with her tail up and eyes bright, looking for another friend.

I thought of the New Testament story where Jesu told the disciples, “ If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.”

This is hard to do when someone’s callous behavior has hurt us, or we have had a disagreement with someone. But I think we need to be like Pearl. Shake it off, not letting their behavior hang around us and have a good day anyway.

As I saw her shake, I knew I had to document her lesson to me.