Dogs don't know what a holiday is, only that you're there with them
You know what's so great about dogs? They don't care about the holidays. Dogs don't know about Cyber Monday sales. They only see the new toy or smell the freshly opened bag of treats.
Dogs have a way of getting us emotional humans to focus more on their funny antics, and less on those door-buster commercials running on television. Sure, they'll sit next to us on the couch to watch You've Got Mail for the tenth time, but only to get the belly rubs.
I love that dogs keep it simple and direct. When I walk into the doggy loft at Muttville Senior Dog Rescue in the morning, the dogs either head straight for me, or ignore me and snuggle deeper into their bed to sleep in. That's it. No coy behavior.
Their faces may have varying degrees of joy on them, but all are clearly telling me something. I can see easily who is dancing to go outside for a walk, and who isn't. Some dogs rush up to me just to get a morning cuddle before anything else!
What's so great about dogs is this communication and behavior we experience together, is every..single.. day. They don't know what a holiday is. They only know that you are there to spend time with them. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. The dogs care about that.
I hope most dog lovers get this. I think they do, but you never know. Dogs understand us better than we do ourselves. We're the lucky ones when we figure that out. I'm the lucky one to have the opportunity to benefit from the wisdom of these older dogs at Muttville every week.
Dogs never stop offering us this free, and often sage, advice. I'm reminded by these older dogs that age or stage in life doesn't limit the number of gems either. I hope with each passing year more people get a chance to benefit from what's so great about dogs.