It is true. I admit it. I think that I have the two most amazing dogs in the world. To me, they have the cutest elbows, the prettiest fur, the cutest grins. Not everyone knows how they came into my world. But ask me just one question, and I will proudly tell you their rescue story, everything about them, and a lot of stuff you didn’t want to know, probably. So what happens when I pass people on the road or maybe on trails, and they don’t say hello to these two most perfect dogs in the world? I die a little inside. Every. Time. Why don’t you want to know them? Don’t you see how amazing they are too?
As a true introvert, let me just say that people are not my thing. But my dogs have taught me that it can be good to get outside…amongst, (gasp), people. When someone walks towards us on the trail, I imagine my dogs to be thinking, “Oh, someone new that will love us. Oh, someone that will give us a backrub. Oh, someone with a treat, or a friendly voice”. And yes, I have been writing a dog blog for over five years now. I think I know what they are thinking.
But it is a mystery to me why many of the people we pass don’t find it important to say hello back to me or even look at my dogs. I die a little inside. Every. Time. Sure, I have heard the rumors that not all people like dogs, which in fact I also find hard to believe. But when did the common courtesy of simply acknowledging another living being’s existence become obsolete? When it become acceptable to ignore someone’s greeting? And why does it hurt me when someone doesn’t say hello to my dogs, or when they jump off the trail to avoid us, or when they look in the opposite direction? Because I think that my dogs are amazing. And it hurts me that you don’t. It hurts me that you can’t see it too. And it hurts me that our world has gotten so distant, so rushed, that a simple hello is not important. Do I understand? No. Do my dogs understand? Definitely not. And although I may be able to hide the hurt, they can’t.
Some may think that dogs do not have feelings. But I am fully convinced that they crave adoration and appreciation, just like we do. Although I do understand if someone has had a bad experience in the past with dogs, that they may not want to pet them. But a hello takes only but a second and when my dogs receive that hello, they get a spring in their step. They prance a little more. What if people realized the affect that one word and one greeting could have for a person and a dog’s day?
For those on the roads or trails that turn the other way when you see us coming, I realize how we must look. Usually, Brickle is pulling me one way, Digby is pulling me the other. They are not the best behaved dogs based upon the standards of us persons. But they are the best dogs to me. Dogs love with their whole hearts, and they want to be with us. It is obvious that this world needs more love, more understanding and change. Could it start with “hello”? Try it.
-Rachael Johnson, Girl Person
2 Traveling Dogs
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