A Dog's Life

on monday mornings I don't work. a small luxury for which I pay dearly in other ways: on call hours, late hours etc.

but, i prefer it that way. it is nice to be off on a monday morning. it cures the sunday night blues.

monday's are for hanging out with my baby girl a bit in the morning. they are for lunch at home with my family. they are for walking to work in the afternoon. nice.

of course, they are also for long runs.

speaking of which this past monday was a cool, but nice sunny day and quite perfect for a long run through the park system that dissects downtown toronto. which brings me to the point of this blog.

who else is out there on a frigid monday morning enjoying the sunshine? who else is exercising while everyone else is at their desk on the second cup of coffee? who is breathing in the fresh air? who is urinating and even defecating outside?(besides me, i mean).  who is visiting with all their friends in the park???? who is having a freaking party in the park at 10 am on monday morning????

DOGS. THAT'S WHO.

Dogs really have the right idea about life. If you are nice to people, they are nice back to you. if you bark loud enough you can stop anyone in their tracks.  If you let people believe they are in control you can get them to do all kinds of things for you; like even take you for long walks, bathe you, feed you, stroke your belly and pick up your poo.

dogs are master maniupulators. they are masters of the "sub is really the dom"  formulation of life. that is why they are the only people walking in the park on a monday morning. they have life figured out.

I can't remember how many dogs i met on monday. 20 maybe? i remember all their faces. i don't remember the people tagging behind them. they were like the blah blah blah parents in peanuts. barely accessible to consciousness. the dogs, i remember.

some ran after me. some stopped me in my tracks. some didn't care. some were old and short.
i remember charlene: a baby doberman who was such a good girl cause she sat there and let me pass by; her mommy's voice reminded me of how i praise my baby girl for doing something good.
i met owen. a large black lab. he thought me tying my shoelaces was worthy of a sniff and a nice tail wag. we said hi. he sniffed tights. licked my hand. nice guy.

why is it that if you are running you are soooooo much more intersting to a dog than absolutely anything else?

dogs hold onto something that we lose as we grow out of infancy. i see it in my baby girl. a curiosity. a friendliness. a "joi-de-vive". an ability to laugh at stupid things and to repeat them over and over and laugh some more. dogs are like furry babies that never grow up.

why is their no religion with a dog diety? i mean we have cats, cows, dragons, all kinds of animal type dieties and supernatural beings, why not dogs?

and dogs are good swimmers and runners. if they could ride bikes then they would be the happiest and most entusiastic triathletes on the planet.

i was glad to share the trail with these happy, zen-like creatures.

i pledge to become more dog-like. more zen like.