<\/p>\n
A little over a month ago, Heidi slept with me.\u00a0 <\/span>Tonight, Lizzie is going to sleep in my room, but I won\u2019t let her sleep in my bed.<\/p>\n No, it\u2019s not what you\u2019re thinking.\u00a0 <\/span>Heidi and Lizzie are dogs.<\/p>\n When I was dogsitting a month ago, I was so tickled when beautiful red-haired Heidi decided to climb up on the bed and sprawl next to me.\u00a0 <\/span>(Don\u2019t worry, her \u201cparents\u201d had okayed it.)\u00a0 <\/span>True, I didn\u2019t have much room left to myself, but I felt so touched and honored that she wanted to be with me.\u00a0 <\/span>There is so much comfort in having a loving companion nestled up against you, even if it is canine.<\/p>\n Of course it would have been better if it had been cold out.\u00a0 <\/span>Then a one-dog-night would have been extra nice.\u00a0 <\/span>But beggars can\u2019t be choosers and so I was happy to have her with me even in the midst of summer.<\/p>\n Lizzie is not quite as clean as Heidi.\u00a0 <\/span>Whereas Heidi\u2019s coat is almost like shiny hair (she could be a model!), Lizzie has definite fur, and it tends to be on the dusty side because she lives in a desert and when she goes outside, she has no choice but to lie in the dirt.\u00a0 <\/span>Poor Lizzie.\u00a0 <\/span>By contrast, Heidi is lucky. Her home is surrounded by lush green grass and shady trees.<\/p>\n Lizzie is probably not limber enough to get up in the bed with me anyway.\u00a0 <\/span>She is content lying on her own little rug by the side of the bed.\u00a0 <\/span>Like my former partner, she\u2019s just happy to be in the same room, even if we\u2019re not actively engaged with one another.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s Junior.\u00a0 <\/span>During this housesitting\/petsitting gig, I am taking care of two cats, a dog, and a puppy.\u00a0 <\/span>Junior and his sister and Mom somehow stumbled in a big hole in the backyard here.\u00a0 <\/span>The residents of this home discovered who the owners were and reported the three dogs found.\u00a0 <\/span>The owners of said dogs asked if they wanted a puppy, and since this one had practically fallen in their laps, they took it as a sign they were meant to keep him.<\/p>\n Like all puppies, he likes to chew and play.\u00a0 <\/span>Fortunately this is interspersed with really long naps.\u00a0 <\/span>Sometimes when Junior is \u201cacting up,\u201d chewing the edge of a rug or bothering Lizzie excessively, I realize it\u2019s my job to give him some extra attention.\u00a0 <\/span>And so I\u2019ll sit down next to him and I\u2019ll give him a doggie massage.\u00a0 <\/span>He rolls on his back and with legs completely relaxed and splayed, he, with complete trust, allows me to stroke his belly over and over again.\u00a0 <\/span>Often I will rub and scratch behind his ears or at the top of his head or spine where he can\u2019t reach to bite or scratch.\u00a0 <\/span>While scratching gently behind his ears, his eyes glaze over with complete bliss.\u00a0 <\/span>Most dogs, like most humans, crave touch.<\/p>\n The gift for me is that Junior helps me to not get so engrossed in my work that I forget to take a break.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s good for me to break away from typing and writing and instead employ my hands to give tactile pleasure.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s good for me to change positions.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s good for me to interact with a world that is flesh and blood, as opposed to the cyber world that can suck up so much of my time.<\/p>\n Dogs are an incredible blessing to humans.\u00a0 <\/span>As anyone who has ever had a dog can tell you, the best thing about dogs is their unconditional love.\u00a0 <\/span>They don\u2019t care what you look like.\u00a0 <\/span>They don\u2019t care if you\u2019ve taken out the garbage or not.\u00a0 <\/span>They may not like it when you\u2019re late, but they will eagerly greet you with tail wagging anyway.\u00a0 <\/span>And if you\u2019re sad, they somehow seem to know it and they come and put their sweet little face in your lap.\u00a0 <\/span>They lick your face over and over again and remind you that they love you no matter what.<\/p>\n We can all take a lesson from dogs!<\/p>\n Thank God for dogs.\u00a0 <\/span>Our lives are so much richer because of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A little over a month ago, Heidi slept with me.\u00a0 Tonight, Lizzie is going to sleep in my room, but I won\u2019t let her sleep in my bed. No, it\u2019s not what you\u2019re thinking.\u00a0 Heidi and Lizzie are dogs. When I was dogsitting a month ago, I was so tickled when beautiful red-haired Heidi decided…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":553,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[234,3,131,233],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animal-massage","category-blessings","category-comfort","category-dogs"],"yoast_head":"\n