Since posting the contest the other day and asking for people’s votes on their preference, dog or cat, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and asking myself, (since we have four dogs), why do I like them so much?

First, I should share that we do also have 2 cats, so it’s not as though I don’t like cats, I just like dogs more.

In your comments, many of you shared your reasons as to why you prefer cats over dogs or dogs over cats. So I asked myself “what are my reasons?” I thought I’d share my thoughts here with you.

This afternoon I pondered the question as I took a short video clip of Teagan, our pup, while he was out in his ‘yard’. Teagan is so small that we are unable to find a harness to fit him. Even the kitten harnesses I have don’t fit him. ha! That’s tiny. The breeder had already begun paper training, but I prefer our pups to learn right away to do their business outside. However, with no way to put him on a leash I had to get creative. We have a LOT of predators around here, such as eagles, vultures, owls and hawks, so there’s NO way I could ever risk letting this one pound pup run loose outside! So I came up with an idea for a little ‘yard’. It’s very simple actually. It’s the sides and top part of a guinea pig cage which we’ve used for countless animals from rabbits to chicks, to let them spend time on the grass. This is working perfectly for Teagan. We simply take him outside every so often, set him inside his yard and wait for him to do his business. He’s learning quickly!

Take a look at this clip if you’ve got a moment to spare and I’ll share my ponderings when you come back.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDJ7vSC1EQw&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0]

As I watched Teagan play in his tiny little yard, I realized just what it is that I love so much about dogs, and about puppies in particular. There was Teagan, in a 3 foot by 1.5 foot ‘yard’, and what’s he doing? He’s playing and having fun. He’s finding any little thing in his ‘life’ to enjoy, from a piece of pine tree to an old leaf! He’s enjoying life, to the fullest! 99.9% of the time, Teagan is doing just that, enjoying life. No matter what’s going on around him, he’s busy living. Our other three dogs are all older and no longer pups. They range in ages from 2.5 to almost 8 years old, so they don’t ‘play’ quite as much, but they do still live for the moment, for NOW. Not yesterday, not tomorrow, not even this morning or this evening, but just now, RIGHT now.

As a person, in life, sometimes I’ve been ‘put in a box’. Often times it’s because of the circumstances I find myself in. Most often it’s due to things such as financial issues, job loss, illness, strife among family or friends, or any number of  reasons. I find myself in a box, a situation which I can not control but which I find is now controlling me, and what I can, and can not, do.

Finances is probably the best and easiest example.

My husband and I have been married for 20 years now. We have five children and a small homestead with quite a few animals in an expensive area where basic things like hay, and gas, cost just about an arm, and half a leg, more then most other places in this country. We are not rich, nor have we ever been in our 20 years of marriage. Now that we have both been self employed for a while, we find ourselves in a financial position where every.single.week. can be UP, or it can be down…

These circumstances can often cause us to feel like we’re stuck, in a box. The temptation, when things are down, is to want to just hide in a corner and try to forget about life around us.  How I truly want to be though, is like Teagan. Living each day, each moment, RIGHT NOW and enjoying it to it’s fullest! I don’t want to keep myself in a box and stress about yesterday, or tomorrow. Yet, I do. We all do. However, I think we can try our best not to spend more time allowing ourselves to feel stressed, then forcing ourself to enjoy life and have some fun. I’m trying to find that balance, as I’m sure most of us are.

As I typed this out, Teagan has been laying on my chest, fast asleep. Confident in his peace, his rest, not worrying about anything to do with later. I want to rest in peace like Teagan, pooped out because I took time to have lots of fun, even if it was just in the little things.