It’s probably silly of me to be so excited about a picture but look:
I finally got a picture that shows Maggie’s personality! This is sweet girl that I know. The silly, playful, goofball that I tell everyone about. This is my pretty girl.
Maggie doesn’t let everyone see this side of her at first but I know that with more time and positive experiences she will continue to grow and come out of her shell. One day everyone that meets Maggie will see the dog I am lucky enough to know.
I have always jokingly called myself a “dog mom” and then bit my tongue when people respond with, “When you have real kids one day you’ll understand what it’s like to be a real mom.” Well, I have to say, I’m a little tired of that response.
I AM a real mom. Ask my dogs. Ask my friends. Ask MY mom. They will all tell you, I am a mom.
To me, a mom is someone that protects fiercely, worries constantly, teaches, guides, and nurtures daily, brags to anyone that will listen, and most of all loves unconditionally. If you do all of these things, you ARE a mom. The same way someone that adopts a child is a real mom or dad, I am a mom to my dogs.
Over the last week all of my dogs have come down with a mystery illness which is causing them to have rather upset tummies. I have gotten them checked out and gotten the proper medicine but all the vet can say is “they have an over abundance of bad bacteria” and can’t really tell me any more than that. Just like I suspect any mom would do, I’ve been racking my brain trying to think what could have caused it, what I did wrong, and just worrying in general about them.
Thankfully, I have seen a huge improvement since I got them started on meds and everyone seems to be back to normal but them all being sick is what prompted me to think a little more about the definition of “mom” and the fact that I absolutely am one.
I know that I will probably get bashed for this by some “real” mom’s out there and maybe when I do have “real” kids my feelings will be even stronger for them, but they’ll be the same feelings I already have for my dogs. It’s hard to imagine feeling any stronger though. Would I jump in front of a bus to save one of my dogs? You bet. Would I go hungry so they could eat? You know it. Would I do every single thing in my power to give them the best possible life? Absolutely, 100%, without a doubt, YES!
I think my fellow dog owning friends would agree–we are all mom’s and dad’s! What do you think? Do you share my ‘crazy’ love for your own dogs?
Ok, confession time. Part of the reason I haven’t been posting much is because I like including pictures (I mean, who doesn’t love looking at pictures of cute dogs?) and for the life of me I can’t seem to get a decent picture of Maggie. This dog is seriously un-photogenic.
See what I mean? What is that face? In real life Maggie is super cute and sweet and all that good stuff but geez, what am I going to with that face?
And that glare! Doesn’t she look like a 16 year old with a bad attitude? Poor Stephanie (my super duper wonderful friend in the picture above) could not get Maggie to smile for the life of her. Finally she just decided to do it for her.
I think I could get Stef adopted quicker than Maggie at this rate. If only she would sit pretty and smile for me like my dogs.
Even though Maggie doesn’t like to smile for the camera she really is a beautiful dog as you can see in the picture below.
Aren’t those eyes just something else?
On Saturday Maggie had her first ever beach day. I really didn’t know what to expect–she was either going to love it or she was going to hate it.
She LOVED it.
Apparently she was a fish in her past life. Marley, the cutie that looks almost like Maggie’s twin, Mason, the big stud, and Maggie spent the entire day running, playing keep away, chasing fish and crabs, and swimming.
I know that I have been slacking with this blog, and I promise to catch back up, but what was so amazing about Saturday was how well Maggie handled all the new experiences. It’s hard to descibe but Maggie has been so dependent on my dogs that I was afraid taking her out alone was going to be more than she could handle. I expected her to stay glued to my side and not venture off but I made the decision to do it anyway because Maggie has to start having new experiences and building confidence.
It could not have possibly gone any better. She got along great with the other dogs and thoroughly enjoyed herself. I can see a whole new dog in her. A dog that isn’t so scared of new things. A dog that has confidence in herself. A dog that is HAPPY.
Above are all of the pups, tuckered out after a long day of playing hard. Just a week ago I never would have thought I would be writing a post like this one but it just goes to show you how resilient dogs are and how quickly love and patience can have an impact on them.
Photos are all from my amazing friend Stef S. Thanks for being the best!
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