Tuesday Topics 17 - Dog of a Lifetime

I took this photo of Cabana in the gardens at the San Rafael campus when I picked her up this morning. It was so good to see her!

Today's Tuesday Topic is a subject that I keep skirting and coming back to, both in my blog and in my own mind. I might be beating it to death, but the sociology major in me can't seem to let it go without further exploration (although this is the ONLY thing I'm doing with my sociology degree).

Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer, says, "You don't always get the dog you want, but you DO always get the dog you NEED." I've been thinking about that statement this past week, while my family has been away and Cabana has been at the GDB kennels.

In looking back over my alone week, if my blog is any indication (and it definitely is), I can see what a whack-job I am! I'm SO overly task-oriented and industrious. I like to feel that I accomplished a lot in a day. If I don't get much done, then I tend to feel a bit frustrated and stunted.

Sure, it's good to be ambitious and active, but there needs to be a balance. And that's where Cabana comes in. Like Cesar Millan said, I DID get the dog I need because I need Cabana to slow me down, to make me go for long hikes in pretty places, to stop working and play a game of tug-of-war, to sit outside in my nicely drip-irrigated garden. She forces me to be a better, more balanced person.

So this made me wonder if that's what makes a dog become a "lifetime dog". That extra special bond that I've heard other puppy raisers and dog owners talk about, when your dog brings out the best in you. Is that the ineffable quality that makes the canine/human relationship even stronger? If not, then what is it that makes you feel more strongly about one dog than another?

I don't know if Cabana is my "lifetime dog", since I haven't had other dogs to compare her to (and also since she doesn't really even belong to us). But I do so appreciate the fact that Guide Dogs for the Blind takes special care in trying to match the right person with the right dog--so that hopefully, Cabana will not just be a guide dog but will become someone's "lifetime dog."