Living in a dog's world.

Liza’s World

“Live humble as a dog
and the world will come alive
in your mouth.” Mark Nepo

My little dog, Liza, and I have a rocky relationship. I picked her up in a hard-scrabble,industrial neighborhood, where she was running down the middle of a street a short distance from a 6-lane highway. She had no identification and was scrawny and dirty. I’m pretty sure she had never been inside a house because she couldn’t understand that you have to move aside for a door to open. She would press herself against the door and wait. Liza is built low to the ground—like three inches from everything on the planet’s surface. She has super-thick, black fur, like a seal's fur. It takes an act of congress to part the stuff, and she hates being groomed. Right now, pollen and spent oak and pine flowers cover the ground. When she comes in from her hourly forays into the backyard, she is festooned with everything that she has passed over. In short, she’s a mess. Now, to make things worse, she’s decided to bark at everything that moves, day and night. That means that I am awakened from a deep sleep by a shrill shriek every time she hears even a peep outside. It’s not doing much for our bonding efforts, believe me.

My relationship to Liza is like all love relationships—after the ‘new’ wears off, you get to see what’s really there. And, what’s really there isn’t nearly as cute as you initially thought. In fact, there’s some truly ugly up in there, too. I’m not going to throw Liza back into the street from which she came; she’s not a biting dog, and given her size, that would be pretty funny anyway. She’s just a dog. She’s 100% dog, right down to her funky little feet and ear-splitting bark. As a dog, she lives in the moment without apology. When she hears something, she barks; when she smells something interesting, she eats it; when she feels intimidated, she growls and bares her tiny white teeth—even with dogs ten times her size. When she wants attention, she turns up her belly. She is who she is 24-7. Life is immediate and exciting; meant to be thoroughly explored and plundered. She is unequivocally alive. There’s something to be said for that.

In the spirit,
Jane