Furbaby Love

This post has weighed heavy on my heart for a while and I debated even posting it… but after some deep thought I think it’s ok to just go ahead and post… after all it’s just my opinion.

Everyone knows we have an incredible love for animals. All animals. Not just our own. Our furbabies, our family member’s furbabies, our friend’s furbabies, even stranger’s furbabies.

It’s deep rooted in both of us — Gary always talks about his childhood puppy Snoopy and his family dog “DG” that they had for a long time - he loved both of them so much… he talks about ”Mama Kitty” that they had on the dairy, and all the dairy cows that he would name. I’ve always had pets – dogs (in order of appearance in my life: Buster, Sugar, Friskie, Smedley, Sport, Benji, Dusty, Little Bit, Deucey, Daisy), tons of cats (my Dad’s house was in the country so we always had country cats) – but specifically there was Mama Kitty, Pele, and now Kiki and Pookie, we even had a bird that lived for 12 years – Prettybird, lots of fish, a couple of hamsters, and a few turtles.

I’m so glad our parents taught us how to respect animals and care for them at a young age. The love these animals provided us with taught us responsibility, to love unconditionally and to love all of God’s creatures… to respect the soul and feelings of animals.

About 2 weeks ago Little Bit (chihuahua) went to Doggie Heaven – she was given to us when I was in high school and she lived 13 wonderful years. She was my Mom’s dog and loved weinies. She was old and she went in peace… I’m sure she is eating lots of treats (weinies) with all the other Doggie Heaven puppies right now. Mom and I are doing better — it was an emotional week and it’s still hard to talk about.

Just this week our close friends have experienced some health problems with their sweet dog and they are facing some very tough decisions right now.

I’m not trying to pull on anyone’s heartstrings… I think everyone has experienced the loss of a pet. There is always a grievance period when you lose something you love so much… something that is so innocent and loving. For us, we would rather experience the joy we get every day from our animals than not have them in our life… we know there will come a day when we will have to say goodbye and grieve and it will be so incredibly hard. As the old saying goes – “it’s better to have loved and lost then not to have loved at all.” We can only pray that we get the chance to say goodbye to our furbabies when that day comes and that they get to live long, happy lives.

But, back to the good, every day we get greeted with a welcome that a king would be jealous of (wagging tails, purring hearts, and abundant love). Seeing the joy on our puppies face when we get home (from a 5 minute trip to the grocery store), when they get to go for a car ride, or a walk around the block, or get a belly rub, or a treat. The way their ears perk up with excitement and their tail starts to wag – we may not speak the same language but we understand each other just fine. The way they need us – they trust in us completely to provide them with love, food, water and shelter.

We definitely do not have the most well behaved dogs and we’ll be the first to admit that — we still have accidents, which is partly our own fault. And it’s still embarassing when they have an accident in front of a stranger, but it happens and we move on. And, sure, Deucey has bad breath (ok, really bad breath) and likes to lick everyone… and it’s annoying. And Daisy is a little timid from her past, but we’re working on it and she’s getting better. She also has an obnoxiously loud bark and burps occasionally. But, overall, they behave ok and we’d rather them have some personality than be molded into a robot that only takes commands and has to sit still when a visitor comes over.

Now to the sensitive part of this post, throughout this pregnancy we’ve heard that our dogs will just become “dogs” once the baby gets here. Maybe this happens in some families, but it won’t happen in ours…. I’m going to try and explain why….

When we made the decision to get Deucey 5 years ago it was not under the condition that we would love him and spoil him until a baby came along.  When we rescued Daisy last year we did it knowing that we would be having a baby sometime soon and that we would still have plenty of love to give her (even if our family got bigger). When I got Kiki and Pookie in college – I needed companions and they were the best companions a college kid could have. We made a commitment to these animals to love them forever, to provide for them and to protect them… and in return they love us. A lot.

Is it the same love we have for Lillian? Absolutely not. I don’t think it’s a fair comparison to the love you have for your own child – a miracle from God, someone that is conceived from the love between you and your husband, built from your combined blood, carried in your womb for 9 months, and birthed from your body. No, I don’t think it’s fair to compare with that bond.

But does that mean we will love our animals any less or any differently? Absolutely not.

Does that mean that automatically we will push the dogs outside, yell at them all the time and never give them any more treats? Absolutely not.

Does that mean it’s going to be easy? Or that we won’t occassionally be upset when the dogs bark at nothing or wake the baby up? Absolutely not.

In any relationship it takes communication and compromise… it’s going to be a transition for all of us – Lillian, Gary, Me, the Furbabies — we are all going to have to learn about each other and how to mold together with the new addition to our family… it’s not going to happen over night and it will also take discipline… but it can be done. And it can be done without sacrificing the love and attention for our animals.

We think the best way to make the transition easiest for everyone is to continue to love our animals the same. To take the time everyday to throw their toy or give them a treat or a special belly rub. I just like to think of myself in their shoes (paws) – how would I feel if suddenly a new member of the family comes home and I’m treated very differently, pushed out of the bed, put outside and ignored? I would be confused, upset, my spirit broken and my feelings would be hurt.

There are days when the doggies are going to get in trouble. I’m sure there will be days when Lillian will get in trouble too (obviously later down the road) for pulling a tail or something… but ultimately, we are all going to get along and be just fine together.  We are choosing to grow together.

So, anyway, this was a long post for me to basically say that we love our animals – very much. They are members of this family and will still be after our baby gets here.

I hope everyone that reads this has gotten to experience the unconditional love of an animal at some point in your life… and that the love you experienced made an impressionable impact on your life. Please take the time to show the animals in your life how much you love them and how much richer your life is because of them. If you have a pet, you have a built in best friend — who loves you even when you stink.

And if you’re looking for an animal – visit a local shelter.

Here are some funny animal pictures through the years:

Be sure to love your furbabies!

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