Loving Bud A Little More

I looked out the kitchen window and there was Bud in the dog house and Zinnia, sitting next to him as if encouraging him to come out and play.

Bud does not like to go out in the rain.

But we put him out hoping he’ll do his business outside instead of on the bathroom as he sometimes does when the weather is bad.  I’ve seen him run from the back door directly to the dog house without even taking a moment to sniff the ground.

But what I really saw when I looked out the kitchen window was the relationship between Bud and Zinnia, I saw that they had become friends.

Since Jon and I have been together we’ve had between one and four dogs at a time.

Whenever we get a new dog I always worry a little that the other dog or dogs we already have will not get the same amount of attention they are used to from us.    But what I seem to forget is that the shifts that occur between me and Jon and the dogs is only a part of the whole dynamic.

Because there is also what happens between the dogs themselves.

And I can see this very clearly between Bud and Zinnia.  They have simply and easily become friends.   And I’ve come to appreciate Bud in a way I hadn’t before.  I see how easy he is, how playful, how he has welcomed Zinnia into his home and life without any trouble.

I think one of the reasons I can see this so clearly is that I can compare it to the way Fate behaves when we get a new dog.  She still hasn’t completely accepted Zinnia.  Fate is more interested in getting Zinnia’s toys than in Zinnia herself.  She mostly only acknowledges Zinnia to chase her away.

So what has happened is that instead of giving Bud less attention since Zinnia has come to live with us, I’ve come to love Bud a little more.  And I’m seeing, for the first time, what an accepting and generous spirit he really is.