The Love of a Dog and a Dog's Love of Life

This photo captures only a few things that make Ziva’s heart soar—the waves of the ocean she dives in every morning no matter the weather, her paws at the edge of the holes she loves to dig and hide her sticks in, and her head tilted up to the sky gazing at the eagles floating above us. Every morning she nudges me awake to run down and see the sunrise and it’s worth it every time. It feels like the first time, every time. I am reborn every morning, and it’s all thanks to her. My darling, my soul dog. I dream of us sailing all seven seas together.

It makes me think of what Dean Kootz once wrote about how no matter how close we are to another person, few human relationships are as free from strife, disagreement, and frustration as is the relationship you have with a good dog.

It’s true that few human beings give of themselves to another as a dog gives of itself. I also suspect that we cherish dogs because their unblemished souls make us wish - consciously or unconsciously - that we were as innocent as they are, and make us yearn for a place where innocence is universal and where the meanness, the betrayals, and the cruelties of this world are unknown.