Paying it Forward - Doggy Style

“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you.  This is the principal difference between a dog and man.”  - Mark Twain

The last time I had a dog was over twenty three years ago before I was married.  So my children had no canine experience - for adoption we needed a low maintenance specimen.  And as we had just lived through a whirlwind divorce - if he could provide a peace that passes all understanding – that would be great too.

The day we adopted Yogi from All 4 Paws we were not even sure we were ready to bring home a dog. 

Sure I had filled out all the paperwork, and my personal references had all been checked.  But I was nervous about making another commitment, and I was in the midst of completing 500 hours of yoga teacher and therapy training.  And it was January.  What sane person commits to routinely walking a four-legged animal in January?  All in all, it was not an opportune time to adopt a dog.

But my daughter was home from college – and we wanted to check out how the adoption process worked - so we decided to go to a “meet and greet” event at a local pet store. 

We had preconceived ideas about what we wanted in a dog.  We even looked at some potential adoptees on-line.  We were selfishly looking for a dog that would suit us – or what we thought would suit us.  We wanted a dog that was younger, larger and could help protect us now that our patriarch was gone.

The day of the meet and greet we were the first to arrive.  All the dogs weren’t even there yet.  As we mingled with the arriving foster parents and pets, a small furry black and white dog kept coming over to us.  He would plop himself right in front of my daughter or son – legs flat on the floor as if in child’s pose.  He would look up at them with his big black eyes and small nose and demand that attention be paid.  His plume like tail was the size of his head and it was wagging furiously.

As we interviewed the other dogs at the event, this black and white bundle of joy kept coming over.  It was clear he had picked us and it was as if he was saying, “Pick me back, pick me back!”

No other dog large or small had the peaceful charm of this dog.  We asked his foster mom about him.

“He is a dream.  He is good with kids and other dogs.  And he is so mellow – hardly barks at all.”

We asked some questions – was he housebroken and leash trained?  All answers were positive.

I was a little hesitant.  “We didn’t even look him up.  We don’t even know his name.”
We went over to the three ring spiral notebook which housed all the foster pet information. 

“It’s Yogi Bear,” my daughter said.

A yogi just like me.  It was like a sign from the universe that this was our dog.  I signed the initial adoption papers 5 minutes later. 

So, despite all of our previous search criteria – we took the leap and adopted an eight year-old, 18 pound Shih Tzu named Yogi Bear.  Picture below from Yogi's adoption day.

And he has been both a dream and a bit of a yogi mentor as well.  My kids say the best thing about 2016 was adopting Yogi.  He has been a great addition to the family – providing a peaceful presence for our transition to a single parent household. 
I had such a positive experience that when the All 4 Paws adoption agency needed volunteers to foster dogs for the holiday, I agreed to foster a small dog named Scruffy.

He was a one-year-old 13-pound Brussels Griffon mix with a slight overbite on one side.  Adorable (picture below).

Without asking Yogi for permission, we brought this bundle of energy into our house and asked him to welcome him.  And he did.

When Yogi met him, Scruffy immediately tried to mount him.  Yogi didn’t try to bite him or growl – he just removed himself from the young scoundrel. 

Being a young dog, Scruffy wanted to horseplay with Yogi.  Yogi gently rebuffed the pup. 

After all – he is an old man who is interested in playing with a toy once every 3-4 weeks when there is a full moon.  And then only for about 5 minutes.

Scruffy was fully trained and ready to play.  He could fetch, play tug of war and dance on his hind legs.    He took over the house immediately – including Yogi’s food, favorite blanket and bed.

Yet Yogi just let it happen.  I was amazed at his graceful kindness.  Faced with the same situation – would I be as evolved?

I picked Yogi up and looked into his soulful eyes.  It’s like he somehow knew that we were paying it forward – doggy style.  We had both been abandoned recently and had found comfort in each other - transforming our loss into tremendous gain.  And now it was this young rascal Scruffy’s turn to find a family that he could transform too.

Without reading a lick of Pantanjali’s Sutras or posturing through a single yoga class (although he does “help” my private yoga client sessions by providing a cuddle when needed) he exhibited more yoga enlightenment than I have mustered after years of classes, training and now teaching.   

We only had Scruffy one night.  The next day he was adopted by a family who loved his quirkiness and couldn’t wait to give him the home he deserved.  My daughter and I cried on the way home from the adoption center.  My son started planning a dog fostering wall at the house with all the pictures of the dogs we were going to foster.  But I was not sure my heart could take this whole fostering business again. 

We got home and Yogi ran to meet us at the door – like he does every day.  And when I sat on the couch that had seemed so small when Scruffy was here, Yogi curled up at my feet like nothing had happened in the last 24 hours.  He had experienced an uncomfortable situation, handled it gracefully and quickly recovered.

During a recent yoga training I attended, the instructor who was leading the session said that the goal of yoga is to encounter difficult situations and remain kind and helpful to others throughout.  

“Afterward,” he said, “if you are truly enlightened, you should be able to quickly return to a peaceful disposition.”

So - I have been striving to achieve this personification of Zen for years - yet my dog exhibited it innately - without even trying.

It was then that I knew we will foster again – and next time I will emulate Yogi’s kind graceful acceptance and release of our transient foster child. Because as it turns out, he has rescued and enlightened me more than I him.  And, now that it has been a year since he picked us, I look forward to paying that gift forward – Yogi style.

In what ways can you learn from the kind creatures in your life?

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” 
​      - Will Rogers