When my husband first found her, her ribs displayed her struggles but her apprehension of people, her timidity, spoke of abuse. There was no trust and yet there was no fight left in her either. She lay at Rolando’s feet, humbly, waiting for him to beat her; instead, he offered her Pork Rinds. As he poured the bag on the ground and she took one, the crunching sound of the food in her mouth, frightened her. What kind of life had she endured?
At first we simply wanted to rescue her, fatten her up, and find a family for her; but the challenges of her past caused more than we had bargained for. On 12-12-12, Mama Dog delivered 9 of the prettiest puppies I’ve ever seen and through it all, this is what I learned from “Mama Dog.”
1. See People With Fresh Eyes. I don’t know what she had been through. From her scars, I can only imagine; but Mama Dog didn’t view us as she did the human’s of her past. She saw us with new eyes and gave us a chance to love her and care for her.
2. Trust Again. When people who are supposed to love you betray you, it is difficult to ever let anyone near your heart again. But if you don’t let down the metal walls that guard you, you will never know the joy of true love. Mama Dog trusted us even though she had every right not to do so.
3. Stop and Breathe in life. One afternoon she and I took a brief walk to give her a break from the puppies. As we approached the end of the driveway, she looked up at me, took a deep breath, and sat down. In the cold, we snuggled up close to each other and silently listened to all of nature’s sounds around us. Her cold wet nose touched my cheek as if to say, “Isn’t life beautiful?”
4. Play. Early one morning, my daughter Hart took Mama out to do her business, I watched from the window. To my surprise, out of nowhere, she lept on Hart’s back and ran in circles around her. I hadn’t seen her play before. She wrestled Hart to the wet, muddy ground. Playing is not just for puppies.
5. Greet those you love. Whenever she heard our voices or saw us, she and her puppies with tails wagging would run to greet us. Why don’t we do the same for our loved ones?
6. Recognize the gifts. At night when her puppies fell asleep around her, warm and snug, she would look up at me. Her eyes said it all. Her belly was full. She was warm and clean. She was loved.
7. Live in the moment. It is about now; the people who are around you now; the tasks you have to do now. Mama Dog was no longer worried that we would dump her on the road or from where her food would come. She knew she was with us today and that was enough for her. Enjoy what you are doing right now and the people you are with.
If we spend all our time dwelling on where we’ve been and what we’ve done or what has been done to us, we just might miss what is around us today. I wonder if God sent Mama Dog so that we could help her or she could help us. Maybe a little bit of both.
