Puppy Love

My friend Valerie introduced Ariel to a group of us the other day.  It was obvious Ariel wasn’t comfortable around us, and with good reason: Her previous owner had abandoned her only a week earlier.  If it weren’t for Valerie finding her (Valerie owns the house in which Ariel was left behind and inspected it a couple of days after it was vacated), who knows what might have become of the innocent blue-eyed, golden-haired ball of fur barely a couple of months old. 

As Valerie held Ariel in her arms, I slowly extended my hand out to Ariel’s nose to allow her to do whatever it is dogs do to make sure it’s safe for a human to pet them.  A muffled growl accompanied an expression that can best be described as ‘gee-I-really-really-want-to-be-petted-but-gosh-darn-is-it-safe-i-mean-is-it-really-really-safe?’  So after Ariel pulled away once or twice she reluctantly let me pet her on the head for a few seconds, before she started getting anxious and began growling a little bit louder and a little bit longer than she had earlier.  Realizing what Ariel had been through over the last week, I couldn’t blame her one bit. 

Then the coolest thing happened.  My son drove up and my grandson Krischan—peering out the window and spotting the puppy in Valerie’s arms—jumped out of the car and ran towards Ariel as fast as his little legs would carry him. Meanwhile Ariel did everything in her power to free herself from Valerie’s arms, wriggling back and forth as hard as she could while whining hysterically--as all puppies do when they want something…and want it now.  Valerie placed her on the ground and in the blink of an eye Ariel was rolling over on her back in front of a kneeling Krischan, begging for him to rub her stomach.  From then on the two were inseparable until the time we left.  Ariel nipped at Krischan’s limbs again and again, but according to him ‘it didn’t hurt.’  Love nibbles, no doubt.     

It was obvious Ariel had a problem trusting adults.  After being abandoned—left alone in a house with no food or water—who could blame her?  But when it came to this particular six-year old boy, Ariel knew she could trust him…that he would do her no harm.  Animals have that sixth sense allowing them to discern good from evil…a warm heart from a cold heart…a friend from an enemy...someone whose heart was filled with love, compassion and innocence.    

Animals just know.

Cindy and I have five cats in our household.  All of them are of the ‘lost and found’ variety: They were lost and we found them.  Maui, the elder statesman of the group is the sweetest cat you would ever want to meet.  However, meeting him is another story. Outside of Cindy and I, Maui isn’t too keen on being around people.  But when it comes to Krischan, Maui jumps up on the couch beside him and holds one paw in the air, his polite way of asking to be rubbed.  It was fairly obvious Maui knew Krischan would never do him any harm; that he is a friend.

Animals just know.

There is a house a couple miles from ours with two horses and a donkey inside of the large, fenced-in yard. Since Krischan had never seen a donkey before (other than the animated one in Shrek) we drove to the house so he could catch a glimpse.  The owner of the property, seeing a little boy standing on his gate and peering into his yard, walked over and asked Krischan if he would like to see his animals.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know what happened next.

Ginny the donkey was a lot like Maui: She didn’t appear to have any interest in being around humans. Curious George, the larger of the two horses was another story.  He couldn’t stay away from Krischan.  As Krischan carefully walked through the field, being particularly mindful not to step on any ‘surprises,’ Curious George followed right behind.  Every couple of seconds Curious George nudged Krischan with his rather large head with enough force to push him a couple of feet to the side each time.  But Krischan was more interested in petting the other horse, General.  The owner explained that General was blind in both eyes, the result of an infection that went undetected and untreated when General was abandoned—just like Ariel—many years ago.  Upon hearing the sad news, Krischan had one mission and one mission only: To comfort a sweet old horse that needed his love and affection.  As Krischan walked toward him, General’s ears perked up as he heard Krischan get closer and closer.  But General didn’t run; rather he stood still and waited for Krischan to get beside him and offer comfort in the form of gentle strokes to the side of his face by a tiny pair of hands belonging to his new and trusted friend.

As I said before, animals just know.

While it may be true that—as Krischan said—Curious George’s head was ‘bigger than my whole body’, it wasn’t nearly as big as that little boy’s heart.        

Just ask the animals.