David Tang's column today was so true really touching and I couldn't help but shed a few tears - feeling exactly what he's saying in the column. Just like to share this by extracting his column here in my dogs calendar blog for the dogs lovers friends:
A
dog’s best friend
By
David Tang
The urn
containing Hot’s ashes will always evoke for me one of the most beautiful things
on earth
David Tang, entrepreneur and
founder of ICorrect, offers advice on questions about property, interiors – and
modern manners for globetrotters
-------------------------------------------
Are dogs man’s best
friends? I cannot imagine a home without a dog and am always suspicious about
those who don’t have dogs or dislike them. Do you love dogs? What makes them
special?
One of the most beautiful
things in human experience is a sense of poignancy, and I never fail to find it
in the companionship of a dog. In this animal which, rightly or wrongly, we have
come to domesticate, we have created a very special kind of camaraderie. It is
special because the dog gives us love unconditionally. We might speak harshly or
show our annoyance at our dogs, but they are forever forgiving. Even at the most
unexpected moments, they will sidle up to you and push their moist nostrils at
your face as if to say they are forever sorry, and you are their loving master
whom they will always love.
This forgiving instinct is
not only one of the most endearing gestures that we humans encounter, as it is
so rarely found among our fellow men, but its disarming nature makes us realise
that our dog is really a secret weapon in our lives.
During periods of our own
depression and anger and curses, we only have to turn to look at our dog,
tilting their head slightly to the side and looking up with their tongue
half-hanging out – as if to offer us a balancing sense of solace and everlasting
generosity. We who love dogs begin to realise and never forget that their
admiration for us, their masters, brings us a great deal of happiness. I cannot
really imagine how anyone could dispense with this precious
sentiment.
That is why I hate people
who don’t like or relate to dogs. They are, I know, never going to be as happy
as we are. They will miss out on the totality of happiness which all the dogs in
the world bring to our homes and in our hearts. We love seeing their wagging
tails; we love seeing their requests for a hug; we love their wishing to jump up
into our armchairs and beds; and we love seeing them run wild with excitement
and freedom, which they regard as being given to them by us, across the fields
and into the forests, or plunge into a cooling stream. They tell us that they
are grateful for what we let them do. With their eyes, they dilate gratitude. No
wonder we are constantly in love with them. And when they grow old, we fear for
their lives more than our own deaths.
Last winter when my West
Highland terrier called Hot, who was nearly 15 years old, began to limp and
cough and look sorry for herself, I became morose and fearful of the loss of
that special friendship, which in their age has lasted the equivalent of 70
human years.
Yet, Hot seemed to be
saying to me, “Don’t worry, Master, I have had a good life, and you have given
me a good life, and I am sorry for all the little faults I have had. But you
have been my master and I am glad that I have been able to make you happy at
times. When I am in heaven, I will remain faithful to you in your dreams – and
in the never-fading memories with which I know you will always share with
me.”
So when Hot finally went,
peacefully in my bed, I held up, as gently as I could, her little white body,
astonished with what was so small in my hands that could have made such a
difference to those distinct moments in my life when only Hot could have
provided true comfort and encouragement and kindnesses to
me.
I could seldom have found
such unconditional love in man. And so I was thankful to discover that treasure,
for it was a treasure, of canine affection. Hot shall always remain a member of
my family. And the urn in which her white ashes are being preserved will always
evoke for me one of the most beautiful things on earth – unanswering,
unswerving, submissive and magically silent, but absolutely the most beautiful –
more beautiful than a spectacular mountain range or a fading amber sunset, or a
snowdrift valley. Not even all of them in nature could touch the beauty of my
little Hot.
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