A Sight to Behold

This morning, while on a hike with Lucy I realized there are few sights as satisfying than watching a fit, enthusiastic dog trotting and sniffing and "working." Just watching the nose to the ground, the legs moving at not-quite-running pace, the tail rotating in near-concentric circles, the joy in her expressions, and the whole sum greater than the parts of her body in motion, all while inhaling fresh air, taking in the trees, and kicking up near-virginal snow has this day off to a great start.

Seeing Lucy contentedly working the ground for a whiff of a chipmunk or the scent of a deer that had passed across the dirt road brings back memories of the dog of my childhood, Bucky. There was always excitement bubbling over in my young head when that Beagle and his sometimes-teamates Mindy or Becky first got out of their crates in the back of our vehicle, tested the ground for any errant scents, stretched out, shook their pants, and eagerly anticipated the beginning of a day's rabbit hunt. And the only thing more exciting and satisfying than that was when Bucky would first get onto a rabbit's trail and bawl out in that beautiful bay that many hounds posses. To this day, that sound is as musical to my ears as Hank Williams, Mozart, The Beatles, or James Brown.

I am fortunate in that Lucy is blessed with that sonorous half-wail/half-bark. That, along with her poetic way of moving on a hike, are just a few of the many things about her that make me thankful Marnie and I found her. I have never fully appreciated why dogs are often referred to as "man's best friend," but I do now. The time in boot-camp-like training, the daily doses of play and exercise together, the quiet moments when you are just "being" together and that appreciative look they sometimes give make for a bond and a relationship that is unavailable anywhere else.

We, as people, forge many of the relationships we are involved with because they offer us another piece in the puzzle of making us feel more whole. If lucky, we find a spouse who can take care of a majority of those pieces of the puzzle. Then there are friends who offer a bit of this and a touch of that. Pets, in general occupy yet another portion of this wholeness to those who choose to share their time, energy, and home with them.

The relationship that Lucy and I have built over the past almost-a-year has been satisying beyond decription to me. On top of that, she is keeping my ass moving. I could certainly beg off going to the gym to hop on a machine that gives the illusion of movement in the most boringly stationary manner possible, but I can't beg off the exercise Lucy needs on a daily basis. Even when it rains, or the mercury dips down damned low, even when I just don't feel like it. It may sometimes impose on other aspects of my life, but I never begrudge it. After all, there are few sights as satisfying than watching a fit, enthusiastic dog trotting and sniffing and "working."