I received the following from Heather Roche, owner and trainer of three lovely Search and Rescue dogs and member of the Bay Area Recovery Canines.

Heather says: After reading this, " It just makes me want to rush home to hug my dogs!"

I Am Your Dog - Author Unknown

I am your dog and I have a little something I'd like to whisper in your ear.

I know that you humans lead busy lives.

Some have to work, some have children to raise. It always seems like you are running here and there, often much too fast, and never noticing the truly grand things in life.

Look down at me, now, while you sit there at your computer. See the way my dark brown eyes look at yours? They are slightly cloudy now. That comes with age. The grey hairs are beginning to ring my soft muzzle.

You smile at me...I can see the love in your eyes.

What do you see in mine? Do you see a spirit? A soul inside, who loves you as no other could in this world? A spirit that would forgive all trespasses or prior wrong doing, for just a simple moment of your time?

That is all I ask. To slow down , if even for a few minutes, to just be with me.

So many times I've seen you be saddened by the words you read on that screen, of others of my kind passing away. Sometimes we do die young, and oh so quickly, sometimes so suddenly it wrenches your heart out of our throat.

Sometimes we age slowly before your eyes that you may not even seem to know until the very end, when we look at you with grizzled muzzles and cataract clouded eyes. Still the love is always there, even when we must take that long sleep, to run free in a distant land.

I may not be here tomorrow. I may not be here next week. Some day you will shed the water from your eyes, that humans have when deep grief fills their souls, and you will be angry at yourself that you did not have just "one more day" with me.

Because l love you so, your sorrow touches my spirit and grieves me. But we have now together.

So come, sit down here next to me on the floor, and look deep into my eyes. What do you see? If you look hard and deep enough, we will talk, you and I, heart to heart. Come to me not as "alpha" or as "trainer," or even "Mom or Dad." Come to me as a living soul and stroke my fur, and let us look deep into another's eyes. It is there we will talk.

I may tell you something about the fun of chasing a tennis ball, or I may tell you something profound about myself, or even life in general. You decided to have me in your life because you wanted a soul to share such things with you.

Someone very different from you, and here I am!

I am a dog, but I am alive. I feel emotions. I feel senses, and can revel in the differences of our spirits and souls. I do not think of you as a "dog on two feet!" I Know what you are. You are human in all of your quirkiness, and I love you still.

Please, now, come and sit with me on the floor. Enter my world, and let time slow down if only for 15 minutes. Life is oh so very short, and we may not have tomorrow. Look deep into my eyes, and whisper in my ears, if you would speak to me with your heart, with your inner joy, then I will truly know you and you will know me.

Think about it, folks, and rush to hug your dogs today, too! Sitting on the floor for me, today, is not that easy, but I can look deep into my dog's eyes and see the love blooming there! Just love those little doggies, friends. They are our very best friends, surely.

Now, have you hugged your dog today?

Do it!

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Questions about dogs may be sent to Peggy Johnson, "Dog's World" in care of The Capital, Box 911, Annapolis, MD 21404 or e-mail: dogsworld@hometownannapolis.com