Summer has been in full swing here and with the craziness of Canada day, Stampede festivities and many more things on the go it’s been a jam packed few weeks. Last night I had some time to reflect on life while I was sitting on the porch with Eli, we had gone on a few adventures and were taking some time to chill before he had to go back to the shelter.
Dogs have been an integral aspect of my life, particularly in the last few years. During my second year of university my dog Sahara passed away unexpectedly. This news came to me at an overwhelming time of my life and I didn’t cope with it in the best way. It was a final straw in turns of my mental health and things went downhill quickly afterwards. During this time of immense stress, I found a program called BARK on my university campus, it ran every Friday for 2 hours and gave students a chance to come and hang out with community dogs and get some dog love. It also worked to lower stress amongst students. The first few times I went I made sure that I was surrounded with people I knew, after Sahara passed away I found myself going alone and really connecting with the lovely handlers who would bring their dogs in week after week, and beginning to form a bond with many of the dogs as well. I became a dedicated BARK volunteer for the last two years of my time in university and it was something that I cherished greatly.
Moving home after university was challenging, I left behind a part of my life and walked into a new chapter full of uncertainty and quite honestly a lot of loneliness. I found a job within a week of being back home and it’s kept me busy ever since but I knew that I needed to get my dog fix in somehow. That’s how I stumbled across AARCS last April. My year volunteering there has opened my eyes to so many situations, it’s taught me to have empathy and understanding. To not be so quick to judge when I don’t know the full story. The volunteers have become a family in itself and the dogs have left me with so many great photos, memories and laughs.
My journey with dogs is only getting started but every single day I am reminded how simple life truly is.
Which is where this week’s Lesson from the Shelter comes from. All we need to get by is love. Dogs have taught me that through love anything is possible. Dogs love with their whole heart, some take a while to warm up to you but that makes their displays of love so gratifying when they happen. If we could all learn a few lessons from dogs, one of them is to love with a kind and open heart and be prepared to see what a difference it can make.
Lessons From the Shelter 