Dogs, what are they? Friends, family or just an animal you look after. In the case that you grew up with a pet, you grow attached and when you see them closer and closer to old age, in the back of your mind you think to yourself ‘what am I going to do without them’. But you never think about it when you are young. They can annoy you sometimes, but you can find a way to love them everytime. They can start barking for no reason, making noise, giving you a headache, but when you go up to them and start asking questions to them, they start wagging their tail and start to do a mini growl, you place your hand on their head and start to stroke or pat them and their tail wags even faster, putting a smile on your face.
The first time you see them as a puppy, excited as it's your first ever dog. You take them home and watch them chase your cat around the room playing with them or in the mind of the cat annoying them. When you have a cat, in the first week that the dog is there, there is a tradition of having the dog, it has a tradition of chasing the cat barking at it wagging its tail and when the cat gets on a high place it tires the dog out or makes them give up and goes to the closest person they see and begging them to either stroke them or play with them.
A couple of months after having a dog, the cat was no longer with us and the dog is now walking around following mum around because they always fill up their bowl with food and water. When they start cooking dinner, the dog walks into the living room to see who can give them attention and when people look busy they go onto the sofa and lay down and sulk. When you finish a game you've been playing on, you turn and notice and start to pet the dog, giving them attention, making them wag their tail with joy.
A few years in, you stop noticing patterns with your dog and just focus on yourself and when you see the dog you hug and stroke it making it happy. When they need to go to the toilet you let them out and wait for them to come in, you let them in and they jump on the sofa relaxing. You go to your room and relax as well until dinner is done.
Now you are older and as the years go by, you see your beloved pet with grey hair, you keep that thought trapped in your mind and go and play with your pet every day giving it a good life. They start to sleep more and go to the toilet more, their food also changes making it easier for them to eat. You get to the point where you wake up with the dog sleeping up next to you as mum is out working and you have a day off and you decide to look after the dog to let them relax as they look tired.
When it's closer to the last week of having your dog around you get the feeling of them going forever. You decide to be with them the majority of the days as you can as college and work takes time from being with them, and when you get a message of them having to go to the vets, your heart breaks and luckily get a day off to be with them on the last day. You try and get them to eat and they don’t, you try and get them to walk, but they just go back down and lay there. You try to hold back the tears and lay with them. You fall asleep next to them. When it gets to the time, you hug your dog, crying, not wanting them to go and saying your goodbyes and watch your mum bring them in the car to the vets. You sit on the sofa quietly in disbelief knowing that you won’t wake up seeing your dog walk around and get attention. Making you feel like something is missing and you know what it is but when you think about it it makes you sad.
A whole month in without your dog you just feel lost still wanting them to return, but to keep the memory of them you have their ashes and a picture frame with pictures of them. To keep their memory alive.
Cherish your time with your dog because they are a part of the family.