{"id":169,"date":"2010-09-07T21:28:15","date_gmt":"2010-09-08T05:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thriveinlife.ca\/?p=169"},"modified":"2010-09-11T19:39:08","modified_gmt":"2010-09-12T03:39:08","slug":"converstion-with-a-dog-by-diane-schachter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thriveinlife.ca\/index.php\/converstion-with-a-dog-by-diane-schachter\/","title":{"rendered":"Conversation With A Dog"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In March of 1997, 5 months after my Dad died, my husband and I decided to adopt a puppy.\u00a0 We already had a wonderful 12 year old dog named Mitzi, a sheltie golden retriever cross whom we loved dearly.\u00a0 \u00a0It had been a very long and arduous haul witnessing my Dad die.\u00a0 We had been enveloped in sickness, death and then mourning. After witnessing my Dad wither away and die, adopting a puppy seemed to be the perfect antidote to breathe life into our family.\u00a0\u00a0A puppy represented birth, joy and new beginnings.\u00a0 I started visiting the Winnipeg Humane Society to seek out the right pup.\u00a0 One day I was there near closing time, and the staff had just brought out the most adorable golden retriever cross puppy that I had ever seen.\u00a0 Without even holding her, I immediately knew that this was the one, and I hurriedly ran to the front desk to put a deposit on her.\u00a0 The following day, my husband and two children went to pick her up.\u00a0 We named her Shayna, meaning nice or pretty in Yiddish.<\/p>\n

We had been advised that Mitzi and Shayna should meet on neutral territority, so we introduced them at a nearby park.\u00a0 Everything seemed to be going smoothly, that is until Shayna walked into our house.\u00a0 Mitzi did not take well to her newly adopted younger sister. \u00a0Being a puppy, Shayna wanted to play and jump on Mitzi who, as an older dog, understandably found this annoying.\u00a0 Soon after, Mitzi went into a deep depression. \u00a0There was no doubt as she began putting her head down, avoiding eye contact.with me or anybody else.\u00a0 Listless and sad, she sequestered herself in the master bedroom where Shayna was not allowed. \u00a0I was heartbroken to witness this. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A week passed with no change.\u00a0 We began to seek professional advice. \u00a0We were told that in some cases the older dog does not adjust to the new family, and subsequently the puppy has to be returned.\u00a0 By this time, we had all bonded with Shayna, and could not fathom relinquishing her.\u00a0\u00a0I sobbed at the prospect of returning this bundle of joy.\u00a0 Yet, I knew in my heart that Mitzi was our priority and with sadness and tears, my thoughts turned to the reality that we would have to return Shayna.\u00a0 Teary-eyed, I went to the master bedroom where Mitzi was hiding out.\u00a0 Sobbingly, I talked to Mitzi and told her how much I loved her, and that no other dog could ever replace her.\u00a0 She was our first \u201cchild\u201d after all.\u00a0 Tearfully, I pleaded with her to accept Shayna.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then a miracle happened. \u00a0Mitzi had clearly absorbed what I said.\u00a0 At precisely that moment, she stood up and walked to the kitchen with her head up high. This time, when Shayna tried to jump on her, Mitzi snapped at her showing Shayna that she was the boss. Shayna immediately backed off.\u00a0\u00a0 Within a blink of the eye, Mitzi had returned to her former self or more accurately a younger version of her former self.\u00a0 She began doing her old tricks and playing with the ball, something that she hadn\u2019t done for years.\u00a0 She began to play with Shayna, and as an older sister, Mitzi showed her the ropes of \u201cdog life.\u201d In fact at one point, Shayna was confused as to who was the leader of her pack \u2013 Mitzi, my husband or myself. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mitzi died about 4 years later at the age of 16. \u00a0Up until the last month or so when she was ailing, Mitzi thrived in her special relationship with Shayna.\u00a0 \u00a0I believe that Shayna was instrumental in keeping her young and invested in life. We still have Shayna who is now almost 14 years old.\u00a0 I take comfort in knowing that Mitzi acted as a role-model for Shayna, and for that reason there is a little bit of her in Shayna.\u00a0 This whole experience taught me what I already knew at some level– that our four-legged companions have the capacity to both sense and understand our emotions and words.\u00a0 \u00a0I am forever grateful that Mitzi had the grace to put my needs before hers and to make it work with Shayna.\u00a0 That was an incredible gift, which I will always remember. .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In March of 1997, 5 months after my Dad died, my husband and I decided to adopt a puppy.\u00a0 We already had a wonderful 12 year old dog named Mitzi, a sheltie golden retriever cross whom we loved dearly.\u00a0 \u00a0It had been a very long and arduous haul witnessing my Dad die.\u00a0 We had been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[13,15,14],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animal-companion","tag-animal","tag-companion","tag-pets"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":22874,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thriveinlife.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thriveinlife.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thriveinlife.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thriveinlife.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thriveinlife.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thriveinlife.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thriveinlife.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thriveinlife.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thriveinlife.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}