5 Life Lessons You Can Learn From Your Pet Dog

5 Life Lessons You Can Learn From Your Pet Dog

Jumper Liew, our family’s pet dog danced across the rainbow bridge to canine paradise in 2017.

From the time we brought Jumper home, we went through a roller coaster of emotions.

Through it all, Jumper brought us much joy and taught us many valuable life lessons.

These are lessons that every dog owner can learn from their pet dog.

1. Thrive as a life-giver.

Dogs are known to be a human’s best friend.

Research shows that dog owners generally live longer and run lesser risk of death due to cardiovascular disease and other causes.

The reasons may be because dogs have a way of getting their owners to be more active in physical exercises and activities.

Social contacts with dogs can also increase positive emotions and thus, contribute to overall wellbeing.

Like dogs, you should also seek to be a life giver and be a plus factor in the lives of the people around you.

Those people should be better off with you than without you.

People should feel more excited about life after meeting you than before meeting you.

2. Be the best of friends.

Dogs can be more committed to bonding with you than many of your friends.

They can frequently love you more than you love yourself.

What is admirable is that they seem to have a heart for many people, including strangers.

They seek to be friendly with everybody without any discrimination or reservation.

There are studies that show that dogs are genetically wired to be highly sociable, amiable, empathetic and outgoing.

They are inclined to have prolonged eye contact, and be hyper-motivated to be in contact with humans.

Perhaps you can learn to develop some of these qualities and apply them appropriately so that you too can be a good friend to others.

To have the best of friends, it starts with you.

Be the best of friends to attract the right people to you.

Case in point, many dog owners will tell you about the joy of returning home to a pet dog.

Their dogs continue to be as enthusiastic in welcoming them home even if they have done it for years.

Dogs will not hold themselves back in expressing their love for their owners.

And they do not love their owners with any expectations.

When was the last time you show your love, care and concern to your loved ones on a regular basis?

Have you shown your appreciation in an emotionally-moving way?

3. Savor every moment of life.

To dogs, life is for living.

Life is to be cherished and celebrated.

They wake up in the morning and look forward to life.

Every day is like a brand new day and a brand new start to have the best of life.

There are no worries about the past or fears for the future.

They do not carry negative baggages from the past, and do not hold any grudges against others.

Instead, they are willing to forgive and forget and restart a relationship.

They do not worry over bad experiences.

Bad experiences should never be worth any over indulgence in the grand scheme of life.

Dogs will also not allow concerns for the future to stop or stifle them from moving forward.

They live fully in the present moment and enjoy the simplest and most mundane things.

As long as they are alive, they continue to be grateful and happy.

And they love whatever they are doing, and they invest whatever they have into whatever they are doing and enjoying their lives.

When it’s time to play, they play full out and are not afraid to look silly.

They have lots of fun while making their activities fun and funny on many occasions to bring joy to their owners.

Even when they are eating the same food, they seem to savor every morsel of their meals.

Their curiousity and adventurous spirits drive them to start almost anything and try almost everything for the first time.

If they like a new activity, they continue to engage in that activity to enliven themselves.

However, if they do not like an activity, they learn not to do it again.

For example, dogs will never rush into a bush of thorns twice.

They have an inert ability to adjust and adapt themselves to different circumstances fairly quickly.

When was the last time you stop and watch a snail, taste your food thoroughly, breathe in the fresh air, and play with something that is old and simple?

How often have you listened to the chirping of a bird, got muddy and messy, taken a good rest, and devoted your whole being to connect with another person?

4. Give of yourself to a good cause.

Dogs are known to be loyal, courageous and dependable.

If they love you, they would do anything for you and to protect you.

Even if you have lost everything and not many people would stand with and behind you, your dog would still be there for you.

They will give you their listening ears and share your pain and sorrow without judging or complaining about you.

And shower you with love and compassion – freely and unconditionally.

In an affluent society where materialism can take precedence over relationship, loyalty, courage and reliability are rare and desirable virtues.

How many people can be counted upon to be loyal to their friends and will stand with their friends through thick and thin?

How many will be loyal to their countries and communities for a good cause and fight for their greater good?

5. Live your best self.

Dogs do not compare themselves with others.

They do not care what other dogs think about them.

Or go out of the way to impress others and prove that they are better than them.

They live authentically and to the best of their own abilities.

Unlike dogs, you may every now and then have a tendency to compare ourselves with others.

In doing so, you lose a sense of who you are and who you should be.

As a result, you can unwittingly attract negative emotions such as jealousy, discontentment, and unhappiness to yourself.

When you learn to love and accept yourself, you will be more willing to help others and be a net-contributor to their lives.

In conclusion, dogs are good teachers.

They can help you reflect about life and perhaps show you who you should be and how you should live your life.

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

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