VA Dog Rescue: Dogs and dirt

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Dogs and dirt

Dogs are the best antidepressant, even if a dog is the reason you're depressed. For me, being surrounded by multiple dogs helps ease the loss of one. I've said before I don't know how people cope with the loss of a dog if they only had one. I am lucky to have nine others around here to help me process Maya's death in a somewhat healthy manner.

The walk yesterday helped a lot, and the sunshine the past two days has helped as well. Today I added gardening to my canine therapy. I went out and bought plants and began planting the container gardens. Dogs and dirt. They go together like, well, like dogs and dirt. It's not always pretty, but for me, always therapeutic.

Coming back from my first plant buying run today, I realized something about Maya that I sort of knew but didn't really appreciate. She would always wait for me to return, looking out the upstairs bedroom or the kitchen door. She knew the sound of my van and would react before anyone else, alerting them so that I was always met by a cacophony of barking voices before I even got to the house. Today I came home and everyone was quietly napping. It made the realize that the raucous greeting I always received was really all due to Maya. It was kind of sad, but it also made me appreciate her even more.

Mercy, Odin, and Norman

Norman, Odie, and Paisley

Mercy, Odie, and Bailey

Norman has really enjoyed running with the other fosters.

Norman and Odie. That's a whole lotta dog.

Paisley and Ford, with a tennis ball in his mouth.

Odie, Norman, Elvis, and Mercy

An overhead shot of one of my containers.

There will be many more garden pictures in days to come.

Candace and Mercy

Candace wasn't out in the pasture because I thought there was a bit too much dog for her, but this evening she and Ford were out in the yard together and they played! I had never seen Candace actually engage in play with another dog. She sought Ford out for it.