Your Dog Doesn’t Love You Back Like You Love Her And Let’s Be Thankful For That
The fur was flying.
With good reason.
I caught a recent online segment of “Good Morning Britain.”
Call it mindless internet surfing.
I call it, “research.”
For this column.
Yeah, I’m going with that.
Can you say this about your beloved dog?
I’m watched this segment, shaking my head, thinking, “Did they really go there?”
A commentator daring to say the unsayable.
About a dog’s love.
That he can’t.
Your dog can’t love you back.
At least not in the way you want to believe he can.
Do you love your dog this much?
A reality star, Pete Wicks, went on and on about his dog.
His great love.
His point—sure his dog can’t talk, but he can and does
express his love in other ways.
Up popped Dr. Zoe Strempel to put a kabosh on that.
“You can love your pet,” she countered, “but there’s a reality check here which is that the pet doesn’t love you as you love your pet.”
Dog and cat lovers across the United Kingdom drew in a collected gasp.
I don’t know who this Dr. Stempel is,
I dare say this…
But I have to say—
I agree with her.
I don’t agree with her in her non-dog person kind of way.
The way she coldly refers to someone’s beloved furball as, “the pet.”
She lost me there.
Almost as much as when she said she hates seeing people look after their pets like they are babies.
Cooking for them.
Letting them in bed.
Been there.
Do that.
To read this column is to know I love my dog.
REALLY love my dog.
My dog does not love me back like I love her
And,
And,
I agree she doesn’t love me back like I love her.
She doesn’t love me like a human.
She loves me more.
I can be gone from the house for 10 minutes and she’ll greet me like I’m returning from war after a 40-year absence.
She gazes at me with her chocolate brown eyes projecting an adoration a billion times more intense than I’ve ever felt from a person.
She doesn’t keep score.
She doesn’t care how I look.
She doesn’t care how much money is in my bank account.
She doesn’t have to check her calendar to see is she has time to spend with me.
When I fetch her from my daughter’s bed each morning, she insists on a snuggle to say, “I cannot believe I get to spend another day with you! I won the lottery! Again!”
But you know this, Dear Fellow Dog Lover.
Without even meeting your pup, I know it is the same for you.
This is what turns us into crazy dog people.
What’s better than this?
Here’s to our pups.
To the way they love.
Like a dog.
May they never learn how to love like a person.
As I wrap this up, I’m feeling the nudge.
The cold wet nose on my leg.
“Enough typing, surfing, screen time, Mama,” her look says.
Time to take a walk.
You want controversy?
Try to suggest to your dog you don’t have time for a walk with her.
I wouldn’t dare.
What do you think?
Do you think your dog loves you back like you love them?
Please share your thoughts in the Comments section below.
And if you like this column and you love your dog, you might like my latest book,
