The Resilience of Dogs

Drawing by the amazing Santa Fe artist, Dan Bodelson

My number one lesson learned from writing "Dog Lessons" is the resilience of dogs. Common wisdom was that the first few months of a dog's life set in stone how they would behave as adult dogs. A puppy who was treated badly, neglected, would turn out to be a reactive and fearful adult dog. Although in some cases that is true, there is lots of evidence that it is not true of most dogs. Volunteering at a shelter teaches you quickly that dogs can "bounce back."

Anecdotally, our two pups have hammered home that lesson. Maisie, our chihuahua-terrier, was a flea market dog who was given up by her first human and taken in by our daughter and adopted by us. Who knows what her first year was like. At the start with us, she'd growl when we picked her up and shake in fear. Within a few months, she relaxed, would play with our other dogs, and sleep curled up with our other daughter. It wasn't easy, it took patience, but she is a wonderful dog (yes, yes, she's exhibits Chihuahua irritability with everything, everybody and every dog on our walks.)

Toby, our Great Pyrenees was adopted a couple of times and returned to the shelter. Again, his backstory is unknown. When we adopted him, he wanted nothing to do with us at first. It took months, a couple of escapes, a few broken window screens and an epic attempt to get away on a family trip to Minnesota. But now he follows us from room to room, sleeps on our couch, howls at Fire Department sirens and coyotes, but is just the best dog.

The message in the bottle is to not be anxious about adopting a shelter dog! All dogs take patience, love and time together. Shelter dogs just take a little more of each. But when they realize that your home is their "forever" home, they will love you unconditionally. Woof!