Dogs bring us joy…and so much more

From the day I brought home Isla, my life has completely changed.

You know all about the importance of training your dog and teaching them how to behave, but what you don’t hear about is how much they can teach you.

How they can teach you curiosity about our world with the point of a nose wildly sniffing the air. How they can show you pure joy, wagging their tails and howling as you walk in the door. Or when they teach you patience, as you mop up a guilty puppy’s ‘accident’ on the floor.

It’s a learning curve- getting a dog- for them and for you, but I whole heartedly believe it makes you a better person.

Seeing their world, through their eyes

I love Isla because she makes me see the world in a different way.

It’s not just as someone experiencing the world for the first time- she sees the world from a dog’s point of view. Smells aren’t just a batch of freshly baked cookies or a flowery perfume, they tell stories, reveal emotions. Speech isn’t necessary because they show emotion with posture instead. As a dog owner, you learn very quickly when another dog wants to say hello or goodbye. And you learn to spot it from a mile away.

It’s through these kinds of observations that we learn to communicate with our dogs. Because without that, we wouldn’t have the faintest idea what they need or want.

Beyond communication, we learn to extend ourselves and our perceptions of the world, to try and understand our dog’s world. And through that, we learn an incredibly valuable skill: empathy.

Without my dog, I don’t know who I would be, but I know I like who I am with her. As the dog mama, I am here to offer my advice and my story as a dog owner. I hope you will share your journey with me too.