I love my dog.

She hurt her paw earlier this evening and has been limping.  It’s not a serious injury, but I’m still going to take her to the vet tomorrow to give her some relief from the pain.  She injures her "dew claw" a lot when she’s running around the back yard chasing birds, the neighbor cat, and whatever is in the alley.  I had no idea what a dew claw was until she injured it the first time, and many vet bills later, I know it like the back of my hand.

The thing that makes me love my dog so much is that despite her obvious pain, she still got up to meet me at the door when I got back from a quick trip to the grocery store.  She does that.  She feels its her duty to greet me at the door and welcome me home.  The pain was not going to stop her.  I felt tears well up in my eyes when I saw her standing there at the door holding one paw off the ground.

Later, when I laid on the couch to watch some TV, she came over to lie next to me- another thing she always does.  Watching her painfully walk over and sit down broke my heart.  I would have told her to stay where she was, but she would not have listened.  When I lay on the couch, it is her self-appointed duty to lie next to me.  I think she thinks she’s somehow protecting me.

I had a professor in college for a psychology class who believed that animals don’t have emotions.  I disagree.  When my dog looks up at me with her big brown eyes, I know they’re full of love.  When she greets me at the door, I know she’s happy to see me.  And on those rare occasions when she does something bad, I know she feels awful when I scold her.  I don’t need a psychology professor to tell me these things.

The great thing about dogs is that they love you no matter what.  If I get busy and forget to give her attention, my dog just waits for when I can stop and give her a pat on the head.  No hard feelings.  If I accidentally step on her tail, it’s me she runs to, thinking somehow she had done something wrong.  And when I’m spending a lazy day in my pajama’s, unshowered with my bed head hair and morning breath, she’s still happy to be around me.

Her unconditional love for me has made me fiercely protective of her.  I call her and my cat "the kids" because I do love them like I would love my own children.  That is why it pains me so much to see her with her hurt paw.  She’s part of my family, and I would do anything for her.  I would slay dragons for her, and I know she would do the same for me.

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