Old Dogs and New Tricks

Today as I was standing in the shower with my old dog while she walked constant circles around me, undoubtedly trying to wrangle me; I realized how much we have in common. Pets of all kinds are always teaching us so many lessons and this dog, our dear Annie, has been quite a teacher. Shall we look at some of the ways we are similar to our old dogs, especially when it involves learning new tricks? First of all, let’s all agree puppies are cute. Youngsters and puppies can get away with so much, don’t you think? Cute, however, isn’t everything; there’s a lot to be said for experience. Maybe that’s a bit of “sour grapes” as we grow older. Drooling is cuter when you’re young. When you’re young and drool, people say, “OOH, and AAH.” When you’re older they say, “EEW and OH NO!” Old dogs know where they should and want to go…and I do mean “go.” If they leave a “message” somewhere they ought not to, well, there’s a perfectly good reason for that…in their thinking if not yours. We don’t like change because it is uncomfortable. Change means we have to learn “new tricks.” We agree learning to do something in a new way is a terrible nuisance, especially if we don’t feel well. “New tricks” are uncomfortable because we like the familiar. We are always entitled to ask, “What’s in it for me?” Change is more difficult than when you learned whatever it is the first time around. We know we’re not supposed to but sometimes, we’d li...
Source: Life with Chronic Pain - Category: Other Conditions Authors: Tags: Chronic pain therapy dogs pet therapy pets Source Type: blogs