The Mindful Puppy
When we were ready to adopt a rescue dog, I knew I wanted another Golden, and we were told by GRRR, Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies, to be patient with the process, after we completed our application, telephone interview, and home visit. I visualized getting the perfect Golden Retriever for my birthday and 11 days before my special day we got the call!
Gabriel, (we named him this because he is such an angel) is absolutely the sweetest and most beautiful 7 month old Golden Retriever puppy on the planet. But an unexpected bonus is that he has reinforced my mindfulness practice in the following ways:
- Commitment. A 7 month old puppy is like an adolescent who needs skills, structure and support, even when you don’t feel like it, are too tired, or want to put it off until tomorrow…
- Compassion. There is no better example of loving kindness than a puppy who greets you with unconditional love and happiness no matter how much you did or didn’t get done that day.
- Patience. Just like us, puppies have short attention spans and are easily distracted. They learn with repetition and repetition and repetition and repetition…
- Letting Go. The beginning of one thing is the ending of something else. Letting go of a clean house, black clothing without hair, and the freedom of taking off spontaneously were all things to let go of, but the trade-off is way worth it.
- Gratitude. My partner Neil knew how much I wanted a puppy for my birthday and there is not a more special gift he could have given me. I am grateful to have Gabriel in my life and even more grateful for such a loving and generous partner.
And, it gets even better! One session with a trainer revealed Gabriel already knew all of his basic obedience commands, and even some of the advanced ones. Now we have to work on our training and just like mindfulness, it requires persistence, patience, and practice.