Dogs are naturally mindful animals. They are the masters of focus & living in the present moment. They don’t spend time musing about the past or worrying about the future. In our latest blog post, “Everything I know about mindfulness, I learned from my dog” I discuss the mindful lessons my dog Misiek has taught me. What mindfulness lessons have you learned from your pets? Let us know in the comments below.
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Unfortunately, we can only have a cat for now. This experience taught me that I am looking forward to moving somewhere where we can have a dog. Being around just one cat made me treasure dogs more.
I want a dog. The power of cats is that they make you crave the companionship of dogs. Cats are gateway pets to dogs.
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Thanks for writing this. My dog always teaches me to be patient, take a deep breath, run wild and get dirty, love by default, stand my ground when it comes to boundaries, and sleep near someone that loves me!
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Welcome to the community @wilco! Dogs are definitely a special kind of animal. Thank you for sharing this with us.
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Dogs are seriously the best animals! I read somewhere that we all should be the person our dogs think we are. That is very true. They give us the benefit of the doubt in every situation.
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@roberto I saw this on Twitter & it made me think of you:
This TSA agent is unfit to handle a dog. pic.twitter.com/WaQ6mt6FR9
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) May 8, 2023
https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1655527375378194433
I would love to hear your thoughts on the dog handling by this TSA agent.
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It appears uncertain what the individual desires from their canine “colleague” as the dog exhibits signs of being in a stage of learned helplessness. This phenomenon may stem from an inadequate understanding of behavior modification techniques, and the individual may be experiencing self-esteem issues that could be addressed through the appropriate therapeutic channels.
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@roberto so what you’re saying is that the TSA agent is in need of some training? Or perhaps some therapy. Or probably both?
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Ideally both. It is a widely observed phenomenon that humans often rely on material possessions such as trophies, medals, clothing, and even animals to validate their social worth and compensate for any perceived inadequacies in their personal lives. However, rather than merely being a critique of his behavior, because he could just be having a “bad day,” individuals in the situations mentioned earlier must receive appropriate assistance (professional training and psychological if applicable) to address their underlying issues.
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I had a run-in with some fellow dog parents yesterday and heard an inspiring thought:
the purpose of having* a dog is a making a dog happy
And I love it.
*in Polish I’d try to say something more like ‘taking care of’ or ‘living with’, as owning a living creature feels weird to me.
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I like that there are so many different people in the world and so many different animals - and that people are drawn to different animals. I recently was at a local farmers market and saw a young girl happily camped out on a mat next to her parents stall, with three of the biggest guinea pugs I’ve ever seen!
I had a little cat being in my life who recently passed, who shared her absolute presence and love with me in every moment. One of the many, many awesome non-cat-like things she did was to meow at me when I’d been on the internet for just long enough. She’d say to me ‘Hey! get off that Internetty computer thing and come and be present with me, scratch my chin and have a rest and be present with me.’ We both experienced electro-magnetic sensitivities.
Now that she is no longer with me, I am blessed to share such presence with some horses, who similarly invite presence and are assisting me to grieve being here without my little cat. They are helping me to feel okay with grieving as deeply as I need to, not to suppress the grief as I have done in the past.
I feel it is such a special thing when we connect with ANY beings who we can simply be ourselves with, and who we can allow them to be themselves authentically.
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Thank you for this beautiful reply! She must have been a very special cat 
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She was Aleksander, very much so. As are so many fur babies in the world - they are so amazing… all they ask of us is to be present with them - be aware, listen, and love them open heartedly.
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