Learning from a Dog’s Love

There’s a budding romance in this house and it’s between one four-legged furry creature and one tiny two-legged human. When we first brought Regan home, I was only a little concerned about Walter. [If you’re new here, Walter is our two-year-old yellow lab mix who has the attention span of a gnat and the stamina of the Energizer bunny.] Walter has never showed any signs of aggression so I wasn’t worried about that, but he’s blissfully oblivious to his strength and has literally knocked me over to the point where my kneecap dislocated (that’s another story for another day). So the one thing I was am worried about is his lack of awareness of his proximity to Regan when he’s near her.

In the beginning, Walter was somewhat indifferent to Regan. To him, she was just another “thing” in the room. Pretty soon, though, he started to realize that she gets a lot of attention. I started to find his toys sitting on her lap in her swing, he started to take her baby toys and bring them to us to play with him, and he started to lay on her playmat, knowing that’s where we spend our time with Regan on the floor. The first time I put Regan on her playmat with Walter nearby was a disaster. He got overly excited and pawed at her (probably hoping she was a toy that he could rough-house with). Needless to say, that ended in tears and me feeling a little bit of mom-guilt –woops!

Now Regan and Walter happily play together on her mat (he invades her space more than she does his), but admittedly I still get nervous because he tends to hover over her and I see those little claws so close to her skin! She is REALLY starting to pay attention to him and looks around for him in the room when he leaves. When they’re on the play mat together she tries her hardest to crawl / scoot / roll to him. Even our Early Intervention teacher said he will become very useful for us in the coming months. We can see the love between Walter and Regan growing and I think there’s something to be said for that.

We could all take a page out of Walter’s book – excitement every time he sees anyone he loves (well, let’s be honest, anyone at all for that matter). He loves so unconditionally and I need to be reminded of that kind of love every now and then. Why is it that we tend to lash out the most at those closest to us? There have been a couple times I’ve been hard on Mitch –too hard –and one day this week was one of those times. In my defense, we haven’t had sugar in almost 30 days so there are times we are both on edge. But this time, it was my fault. Being a parent is hard enough on its own, and there’s no need for me to add stress to that! If there is one thing I’ve learned about being a wife and mom, it’s that I’m never done learning. Seeing Walter’s blossoming love for Regan reminds me to have patience and love for everyone in my life. Thank you for this small reminder, little Bubby!