I know my dog.
I know both dogs and the cat.
Like children...like other personalities we live with, we get to know them.
When Scully goes to the door, he's not telling me he wants to go for a ride.
He's telling me, "Ma, I gotta go to the bathroom- NOW!"
Midnight in the middle of July is no big deal...but midnight in the middle of January is.
The clicking sound of his nails on the hardwood floor woke me from my toasty slumber at one thirty this morning. I shook my head a little, trying to wake up and saw him peering at me with the intensity of "RIGHT NOW"When ya gotta go, ya gotta go, right?
So, he ran to the kitchen door and as I placed his little red sweater over his head, he put his right arm through the armhole and then the left...he dresses himself with a little help from Mama.
Then the other pink plaid fleece jacket...
I grabbed my jacket as we flew down the stairs.
He hopped down the 3 steps to the icy ground and ran to his favorite snowbank to do his business.
As I went around the corner to follow him, I was greeted with a beautiful sky. Bella Luna was behind some wispy clouds and the haze in the air made the early morning alive with dark blue and glowing moonlit clouds. Even more beautiful, however, was that the moon was low in the west...behind a beautiful, naked maple tree. Imagine if you can, the moon peeking through the clouds from the behind the silhouette of hundreds of bare branches.
It was breathtaking and so peaceful. I wish I could re-create it for you with a palette of pastels.
I thanked Scully for being a good dog and waking me so he could go to the bathroom. He's never had an accident in the house since 2000...and only once since he came to my life.
The real beauty of all this is that I trusted him to wake me if it was important. I didn't tell him "No no" or "Go back to bed" because it was inconvenient to me. I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It's a luxury not to have to depend on anyone else to take me. He, Dovi and Whiskers and all other indoor pets don't have that option. I went with him and by my non-resistance, he gave me a beautiful gift early this morning, while the rest of the community slept.
I have come to treasure those early morning trips outside with him. He is always happy and grateful...wagging his tail, smiling and giving me his forehead to nuzzle with my own. He goes right back to his bed and I am left to fall back to sleep, pondering the beautiful, simple gifts of his presence in my life...and of his devoted love and loyalty to me.
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