Just a Dog

Okay Mr. Wilson Fans, here's a fun little fact about Mr. Wilson:

He is just a dog.

JUST A DOG! What do you mean, just a dog!

Allow me to elaborate:

Mr. Wilson will be Mr. Wilson no matter whom he spends his life with.

Family A. has little time for a dog but goes to the pet store looking for a lizard, little Johnie sees Ole Mr. Wilson sitting in his cage behind the glass and is instantly smitten. Little Johnie's mom is tired, and gives in to her boy's whims, and they go home not with a lizard like planned, but a little Schnoodle named Wilson. It's all fun and games for a week, but things get old, and the novelty wears off, and before long Wilson is getting little or no attention.

So he does things to get the attention that all living creatures crave. He barks at nothing. He jumps on people.  He chews things that are expensive. He pees inside when he can't hold it any longer. He runs away, and doesn't come back until he's hungry for love, food or just the comfort of home-any home.

Before long he's a chore, then a pain, then a pest. He becomes a "bad dog."

But he's not a bad dog at all. He's just a dog.

Family B, consisting of the beautiful and kind Cheryl and the equally kind but not so beautiful Michael find a little lost soul on Petfinder and bring him home. This isn't their first pet, and they knew exactly what they were getting when they agreed to take care of another living, breathing, feeling and helpless little fella. They researched how best to train the new dog, how to socialize with him, how to create a proper pack order.

Mr. Wilson arrived, tested the water, peed on things, chewed things, jumped on people and tried to take over the household as Alpha Male of the pack. The kind and benevolent people who adopted the little fiend were prepared, and there was a training crate in the home, and lots of toys to be played with, and somebody who was in charge, and acted like the boss, not a plaything.

It didn't take long for Mr. Wilson to figure things out, and to relax, and let his guard down enough to be comfortable with his role as a valued member of the household, and not a bad dog at all. He is, after all, just a dog. But he's our dog, and to us, he is everything a dog could be, and more.

By changing the way you look at things, the things you look at change. It is up to us to see the goodness and beauty in the world around us, and the creatures that make our lives more colorful and rewarding.

The dogs are the same, it's how we see them that matters.