38 Comments
Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Dogs are better than people❣️

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

I have never, ever in my life (I'm 72) been without a dog, we currently have two, down from three, and I never ever will be without a dog in my life. I think that says it all!

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

My friends say they want to be reincarnated as one of my dogs…. they never said as one of my husbands

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Frankly, "Dog and God" says it all for me. www.youtube.com/watch?v=H17edn_RZoY This is for anyone who hasn't already discovered this. Although just listening to it no matter how many times really speaks to the love of and for and from dogs. I have three.

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

My father called me Skipper,so I named my wonderful Shetland Sheepdog Skipper II. Extraordinarily smart (as is the breed), he quickly learned every toy in his box kept in another room. Go get this or that, & you would hear squeaks, bangs, bumps, scratching and out would come the toy. If on occasion he brought his favorite, my old sneaker, and was told no, he just looked at me a moment, then with a sigh, brought the right one.Before bedtime in the laundry room, we played hide and seek. He would rip through the house , find the person, bark, then, run back for his treat and lights out. He napped under long curtains, keeping one ear out and up so he wouldn't miss anything. If his dish of ice cream moved off the newspaper, he stopped eating and scooted it back with his nose. He liked Coke, so when almost empty, holding the bottle for him, he would stick his tongue down into it and finish it off. One time, I was in a chair reading, my lunch, a hamburger, on an end table. I answered the phone , and when I returned, one bite was taken out of the hamburger. Only one.Once pushing my daughter in a stroller and the dog on a leash, a big mean one raced over and attacked Skipper. I got my daughter home, then went back and carried my dog home. Vet put him on a lot of pills. Living in WVA at the time, we often went shopping in Pittsburgh, so I took Skipper to stay at the vets. As he was being led away, he stopped, looked back at me, and cried. Actually cried. I never saw him again. He died; heart attack just like everybody in my family. To this day, my heart breaks when I think of him, crying, almost like he knew we would never be together again.

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My dad was formal with us kids. No hugs, his dogs got them. I was jealous. Now I'm old at 85, and am in love with my dogs. In many ways I like them better than people, they're smarter too. I hope to go before my dear 11 year old Golden. Bill Doolittle

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

MY wife and I are both dog people. Awhile after we met we knew it was serious when we adopted a dog together (celebrated 21st anniversary in Jan). Scooter Rae was a joy, flyball champ, paper retriever, boon companion, best friend to one of our close friends who took her out several times a week sailing, kayaking, hiking. We had her for almost 14 years before cancer, that scourge that evenually takes all older dogs it seems, claimed her. Since then we've had up to five dogs at once, we fostered a dog who turned out to be pregnant and we kept two of the pups, adopting all the rest and the mom out, then we rescued Django, a brindle Basenji look alike, then we took in an older abandoned dog Tyler for two years until that damn cancer claimed him. We lost the heart of our pack, Cocoa (one of the pups) the day after Thanksgiving 2019 and my heart dog, Django left us on Mother's Day this past year after making it to 16. We still have Audrey (the second pup) an agility champ with mountains of ribbons piled up around the house, and Patches, a troubled girl we rescued 11 years ago. I can't imagine life without dogs, even though the pain of losing them is terrible they bring such joy it's worth that bargain we make when they join us, we agree to suffer so they won't have to.

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

We’re on our fourth, the other three all lived to 15. So for 40 years. We plan on adopting only seniors after this one.

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

I was raised with dogs. By necessity, college was dog free due to housing issues. But when I pursed graduate degrees, I got a dog. An English Springer Spaniel. She was with me for 14 years. Through my schooling, studying for the bar, birth of my twins and the beginning of my career. When she passed away, I took days off. For the next 25 years, I rescued dogs. Sometimes many. Eventually I rescued senior Springer Spaniels from ESRA. I was horrified to learn that few will take an older dog, so they go unadopted. We had over 20 over the years. They were family. When the last one passed away, my heart broke and we took a break. Travel made it cruel to adopt dogs. So we rescue senior cats. But, I miss my doggies and having a dog in the house. All the time. The cats? Not so much. Maybe one day….

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How would life be without dogs you ask? Not good…Not good at all..

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Hazel has such a sweet face! Dogs have always been cherished members of our household. Invariably, after I drop my daughter off at school, I come home and text her a picture just then taken of one of our three dogs and wish her a wonderful day. I know seeing a picture of one of our doggies is a great start to her day.

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

My 12+ year old rescue Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Tommy has been by my side through the loss of my husband from cancer nearly 5 years ago. Tommy is deaf, has heart issues and is on medications. I know his days are numbered. I love him so much.

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

I recall reading that the earliest known - clearly loving - burial of a human with a dog was 13,000 years ago. Humans are dogs' ecological niche. Dogs and humans create an emergent species. There should be a single name. There's no doubt humans alone would be diminished without dogs. As a youngster when we were living overseas my parents had to give up our black lab for adoption because he would have had to have been in quarantine for (my recalled experience as a 10 year old) a year (but it could have been 6 months) when we moved back to the states. I never got over it. I was not in a position to have a dog in my life again until I was in my 50s. Our chocolate lab Mocha was the sweetest most human-pleasing-driven dog I've known. We lost her at age 16. We lost our black lab Flash - who'd been trained as a service dog and without exaggeration had a vocabulary of at least 100 words when he came to us but didn't quite cut it in the program - suddenly, a week into the plague lockdown. I miss him every day. I used to greet the two of them (oh, also my wife) as "hello family" every day when I came home. Our more recently adopted terrier/beagle mix - a victim of abuse and multiple abandonments from human "owners" - proving again dogs are the superior part of this relationship - is a challenge, but is intensely curious and more trusting every day. I cannot imagine a world without dogs.

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

I like dogs but not as much as cats. I'm crazy about cats as people are about their dogs. I've never had any luck house breaking a dog so I will just have to enjoy the dogs belonging to my friends.

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Five dogs and four cats - and a bird. Overkill? Not really. Love them all and they all love us, End of story,

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Feb 5, 2022·edited Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

In all my 74 years on this earth, I never remember a time that I did not have at least one dog: they have run the gambit from pointer bird dogs ( my dad was a quail hunter) to Westies to labs, to retrievers, to rescues. All have been part of my life and family. I will always have a dog- they are one of God’s most spectacular creation I feel.

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Feb 6, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

I have always had a dog companion, but my beloved 13 year-old-lab died just before the pandemic. Now in my early 70s, I figured I'd better slow down and get a cat. The cat is nice, but she's a cat. A year and a half later, I was so sad and bored that I launched a search for the perfect rescue dog.... a small dog this time, I thought. I ended up rescuing an 8 year-old 90 pound lab who is the perfect dog and has made a huge difference in my life. I'm getting outdoors again, she is my constant companion, and I love having someone to care for.

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Life is immeasurably better with dogs. They teach us how to be better humans.

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

My two rescue dogs, one larger and one smaller, teach me how to get along with others by their example. The large dog self handicaps so she won't hurt her ferocious little brother. They make me laugh everyday with their antics and calm me with their unconditional love.

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Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Life would be with a void. Our senior dog Austin died last month. We have a sweet Chiweenie who still fills our lives with joy.

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Feb 5, 2022·edited Feb 5, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Totally agree, Steven. Currently don't have space for a dog, but never was without one growing up, as I write about in my WordPress blog:

https://completelydark.com/2012/02/12/lassie-gets-knocked-up/

Cheers, Mike

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Feb 6, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Don’t forget bunnies and other animals like guinea pigs. If humans give them a chance they too bond and enrich our lives in so many ways.

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Feb 6, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

I’m a cat person. Cats are amazing. I like dogs. Some of them. Not the little yappy ones, but the bigger ones like Huskies, Setters. I do like Beagles, but I don’t want to care for one. I’ve just never triggered on getting a dog. It may happen, but I’ve been exceedingly happy with cats. My first two probably kept me alive. One lived to 20 1/2 years. Our second two we got for our son to grow up with. We only have one left now. Each loss was a punch in the gut. So painful to lose a family pet. So yeah. Cats.

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Feb 6, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Life would be horrible

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Feb 6, 2022·edited Feb 6, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

Malamutes are the greatest. We've had four of them and an Akita (consecutively, not simultaneously). We now have a rescue husky who's more work than any of the others, but it's still rewarding.

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My dogs are my life! I grew up with dogs right here on our family farm. After college, I moved to DC and got my first dog when I was 30. I found this puppy at the pound and fell in love. When she died, I had gone back to graduate school and had a year to go; I was so distraught I decided to move home to help out my elderly mom.

After my first dog died I was so lonely in my 3-story row home I started looking for another puppy and got one 9 weeks later. When I drove across country to move home she was so good! She quickly became an off leash farm dog.

After 6 years I decided to adopt a corgi as a companion. My older dog was never happy with that but tolerated her. Now I had a family!

My mom had died the year before, so it was so lonely on the farm, even though my brother and nephew each had houses here on the farm but I rarely saw them. My brother had 2 labs and they got along and played with both my dogs. When my older dog died it was very sudden and a year later I still cry when I think of her. She was 12 so I thought she’d be around for awhile but wasn’t meant to be.

I decided to adopt a German shepherd pup. There are a lot of backyard breeders here that are well meaning, but I got a shepherd with a poor temperament. As she grew things got bad and when she was 6 months I made the decision to give her up to a foster group. It broke my heart but it was the best thing I could do for her. Now I wish I could adopt her back.

A few months later I stumbled upon a rescue male corgi—my first male ever. The vet thought he was around 2, and he was only 17 lbs! He was so scared, but warmed up after a few days and eventually both corgis became best buddies. I have my family back! They are with me constantly. The male corgi is a goofball and funny and has settled in nicely. I never thought I’d be a person with 2 small corgis!

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Feb 6, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

I rescued my little Hades (that was his longtime name when I got him from a friend who was too sick to care for him) after I moved into a new home at the end of a thirty year marriage. I could never have survived without my sweet little guy!

A year or two after he passed, i adopted my Little Luna, just one month before the pandemic hit. She has been my steady and constant companion these two years. I lavish her with the love and attention she has so willingly given me!

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Over my life, I have had several dogs. I grew up with small dogs. When I got older and had my own home, I was never without a dog by my side. Charlie was my very first German Shepherd, he was 15 years old when he died. He was, along with my girls, my life. Then Oliver came along, a chocolate lab which no one wanted….then I found Kyra, a black lab, on a side street in NC. Both were 2 amazing dogs and lived until they were 14 &13. After them, I swore I’d never get another dog. But I started going into a depression and Timber came along. She was my savior, another German Shepherd….she’s now 8 yrs. old and then I was at Walmart and found Blu, my Great Pyrenees. Both stay by my side. I talk to them all the time and they look like they really understand my conversations. Blu actually saved my life. I was holding him while the girls were coming inside the house and he pulled me, I fell to the floor and broke my arm. He’s 111 lbs. I went to have an x-ray done and the emregency room doctor found a spot on my lung. It turned out to be cancer. I had my upper lobe removed and so far cancer free for almost 3 years now. I adored all my dogs. Each of them in their own way filled my life and my heart.

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Had a mutt as a kid, and have boxers now as a family. Was it the movie The Kid where the kid says to his adult self (played by Bruce Willis) "We don't even have a dog?!!"

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We more or less grew up with a dog, but not until we were old enough to take care of them. My Mama loved the dogs and our Dad tolerated them. Once I moved to Idaho, I was the go to dog sitter for my friends. Then after I moved to Boise, I finally got a dog. My first labradoodle left me after 7 years from severe congestive heart failure but I can assure you he enjoyed a great life. My next doodle was unexpected, but a shelter in a mountain town convinced me to take the necessary drive. Murphy had awful separation anxiety, but with training I now have a different animal that knows he has a forever home. Both dogs have been my companions during a grieving period. They helped me heart in ways I could not have imagined.

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Gods greatest gift to mankind has been the dog.

Dog is my copilot.

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We would be the poorer for it snores, farts and all! :)

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Oh my! Dogs have been extremely important to me. When I was a child we took the family dog with us on vacations. We were three girls and a dog in the back seat, driving all over AZ, southern CA and Mexico. She even went with us in a rowboat on the San Diego bay and in a single engine plane. When my younger sister died suddenly, our dog was my greatest comfort. She just sat quietly with me, almost never leaving my side.

As an adult I adopted two dogs at the same time. One of them was a rottweiler and I didn’t know it. The vet was horrified when I asked him what kind of dog he was, the implication being that I probably couldn’t handle him. But that didn’t phase me one bit. Although I admit I eventually realized I needed to go to a gym to build up my muscles, and I did.

This may sound strange, but my rottie taught me how to be assertive. I noted how he used his body to assert himself in different situations and how he insisted on being in charge, which made me learn how to be in charge instead of him. I realized he always remained pleasant and good-natured when he was being assertive, which is more than I can say about most of the attorneys I worked with. As a litigator I modeled my assertiveness on how my rottie behaved. Seriously.

My other dog at the time was a female heeler. If a lizard or some other varmint got in the house, she would stalk it and kill it.

She was also very good-natured, but occasionally when my rottie felt like it he would walk up to her until they were side by side, do a maneuver with his body that knocked her down, and nonchalantly walk away. Her reaction was always to let him have it verbally, right up in his face. Occasionally she did a maneuver with her head to get out of her collar and raced to where there was a cat, which she then proceeded to herd.

My dogs woke me when my house was on fire. The fire started in the garage in the middle of the night. By dawn my house was filled with smoke and I was very close to being overcome by it. Both dogs were barking, what I called their “alarm” bark,

trying to wake me. I remember sitting up several times and falling back asleep (or unconscious)each time. But the dogs kept up the barking until I finally was able to struggle to consciousness and realize my house was filled with smoke.

On a different occasion they saved me from a man who suddenly appeared in my garage as I was changing the overhead lightbulb. He looked rather scary, told me he was delivering something in the neighborhood but his van broke down. He wanted to use my phone. I told him to stay put and I would bring the phone to him. But as I got to the door, he was suddenly right behind me.

As I opened the door both dogs were right there and went berserk, leaping into the air, slinging spit and barking ferociously. I instantly turned around and shoved the man back, screaming at him that my dogs would kill him. (I didn’t really know what they would do, but that’s what I wanted him to think.) Both of those incidents were terrifying. Both could and would have gone quite differently if I hadn’t had my dogs with me.

My most recent dog was a hound who passed away a couple of years ago. She was the sweetest, most cuddly dog I’ve ever had. She wasn’t ferocious at all, but she was very, um, matter of fact about hunting.

Neither my husband or I have ever hunted or even wanted to hunt. We adopted our hound because she had been at the no-kill shelter for a year, designated as a full fledged member of the shelter’s Lonely Hearts Club.

When we moved to a new house in a brand new subdivision that had been built on a large scorpion habitat we had a lot of scorpions in our house. If Chloe found a scorpion she would lay down about a foot away from it and stare at it until we noticed.

One day I was horrified when I let her out in the back yard and she swiftly killed a little field mouse. Later I was even more horrified when I glanced outside to check on Chloe and I saw a bird’s head on the patio. There wasn’t a body, just a head. I promptly made my husband go outside to look for the body, but he couldn’t find it. We could only conclude that she had eaten the bird, feathers included. I fully expected Chloe to begin vomiting at any moment, but she never did. I was impressed.

As I’m sure you can tell, I adore dogs. We are currently dogless. I’ve always preferred bigger dogs but I’m older now so I’m thinking a beagle sized dog would work. My husband wasn’t raised with a dog and was chased by dogs in his neighborhood when he was growing up. But I think since we had Chloe he’s no longer uncomfortable with dogs and I may eventually talk him into adopting another. There’s no question—dogs are pure love.

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