Time

A very special moment last summer with all my seniors at the beach.  

Time;  a particular period considered as distinct from other periods.  As between two successive events.

Time, we never seem to have enough.  How many times have you said "if I only had a few more hours in a day?"  We all wish there was more time.  For dog lovers like us we wish there was more time for the dogs in our lives.  That meaning that we wish they were with us longer and that we had more time to spend with them.  So how much time is enough time to spend with a dog?  When your dog or dogs live with you as an integrated family member time is easy.  With all the day to day interactions of what we call life there is a great deal of time spent together.  With a daily focus put onto an exercise or social outing it is really very little in the big picture.

Sure you can spend a whole lot more time focused on individual dog time but they don't ask a lot.  I spend most of my day with my dogs.  Where I go they go.  I will often load up with water and snacks to bring to my office so that they don't have to get up.  If I leave for even a second they are up and following me.  For Elsa this is fine but I hate to see Luke haul his old body up just to go down and get a snack and come back again.  Much of our time is spent hanging, just chill'n together.

Take a wolf pack in the wild; they do a great deal of just hanging out.  They are not always interacting and most running involves a hunt.  Wolves in the wild reserve their energy and do not waste it on willy nilly running just because.  Of course they do play and have social interactions as wel; but their life is spent with one another, time spent together.

Time itself is often the reason owners give for needing to find a new home for their dog; they simply don't have the time.  This for me is one of the lamest excuses.  I do believe that there are valid excuses to re-home dogs but not because you don't have enough time.  We all don't have enough time.  Yes there is time required with dogs.  At each different age there is a different demand on your time.  Puppies need lots of supervision and training.  But the faster you get them integrated into the family the easier it gets.  Middle age dogs are great but do need more exercise.  When dogs are well socialized they can also spend a great deal of time joining you on your daily outings.

The senior dogs are where it gets really easy so when someone re-homes a senior I just don't get it.  They sleep most of the day and require very little as far as exercise.  The golden years are special, having just lived through some very golden years with my dogs I would never give those years up.   It is a very special time of giving back.  They give to us for so many years, their senior ones are where we can attempt to give them back even a fraction of what they have given us.

Time is relative; we all want more of it, that is clear.  But time with our dogs?  Priceless.