Friday, July 22, 2011

Love Letter to Ike

I haven’t been blogging very much lately. There is certainly reason to blog, some truly wonderful things are occurring. I think it is a combination of the new house, work, and having stopped obsessing about things quite so much (thank you mindfulness class – best money ever spent!) that is causing me to blog less. I don’t feel the need to over-analyze class and recount it in minute detail. I just don’t.  I am much more present (and that certainly pays off in agility class).

In our Tuesday night class Ike blew me away with repeated rear crosses, speed, and truly driving into tunnels. We have been practicing our rear crosses, but still! I wanted to jump for joy; I might actually have done just that.

I am so grateful for this dog! He has taught me so much it makes my heart swell. He continues to teach me daily.

It is amazing what a lot of elbow grease, re-evaluating your priorities, and acknowledging what your dog wants can do. It makes me flat-out giggle to think about the joyful dog I have now and the stressed dog who didn’t want to play agility that I did have. It is the difference between night and day. And Ike and I were able to do this together. He told me what he needed and I was able to listen.

Listening to your dog can be so hard. It is particularly hard when what they are telling you is not what you want to hear. Learning to listen to Ike was a huge life lesson for me. It meant setting aside what I thought I wanted and listening to what my intuition already knew and had known for some time.

As a result of listening to him we have SUCH a richer relationship and it has carried over into so many aspects of his life. He is much more dog friendly and is a flat-out flirt in class. He no longer carries the stress I placed on him of trying to do something for me he truly did not want to do (or at least in that context).

Ike has taught me to listen carefully and to persevere. I love him so much for it. My life would be 100% different if the little terrier with a mind of his own didn’t come into my life 8 ½ years ago.

5 comments:

Sara said...

What a beautiful post, and something I'm learning about myself...to listen to my dog. I'm trying, and I hope it makes a difference in Oreo's life like it has in Ike's.

Katrin said...

:-) relationships with dogs should be a 2 way street, give and take, talk and listen. That is what you have with Ike and it is wonderful. Makes me smile :-)

Brenda said...

A wonderful blog post. The life lessons we learn from our dogs are wonderful. Being able to listen to our dogs is a gift. Sounds like you and Ike have developed a great relationship...one that is built on mutual love and respect.

Holly said...

A wonderful post Julie.

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

What a wonderful post, that is funny reading that at this point in how things are going for us... some times it is harder to blog for just the reasons you stated.