"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog."

"You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." - Unknown


How much does it break our hearts when our pets don't feel well? It's awful. But they are the most amazing creatures. They get sick but do not complain. They take it and deal with it and face the pain with courage while they remain devoted to making sure we are still okay. I truly cannot think of a soul on this earth as unselfish or more devoted to us than our dogs.

Last Friday night after Walter and Henry came home from the groomer, we noticed that Henry was a little slower, lost his appetite and was just not his happy self. Henry has severe hip dysplasia and spinal arthritis so we thought that perhaps that was bothering him. But, alas, it was not his hips or his spine but rather some kind of a stomach virus. We took him to the Vet and he was prescribed antibiotics. In 24 hours, we could see that he was feeling better.

Then, all of a sudden Walter seemed to be sick, too. I thought to myself that it must be sympathy pains for Henry as they are so incredibly close. Walter is somewhat of an empath and seems to feel everyone’s pain. We took Walter to the Vet and he, too, had a stomach virus and was prescribed antibiotics. Within 24 hours he was feeling better, too!

I have to give them each 2 pills twice a day. Even though I know they don’t like to take pills and it is sometimes difficult for me to get them to swallow them, I do it because I love them. It is my job to take care of them, keep them safe and help make them feel better when they are sick. And they stand there like little soldiers and swallow the pills they hate because I am giving the pills to them - and because they trust me. They wag their tails and they smile because they want to please me. They know I am helping them. They know I love them. And they will do anything for me because of that. Anything.

How can we possibly not do everything in our power to be worthy of that kind of devotion? Be still my heart.