Why I Love My Dog So Much

Note: I wrote the below post last year (May, 2016) but it didn't make it into my blog book. I think I left it out because my love for Maggie Mae is so pervasive and runs so deep that I wanted the post to get bigger billing than just one story in a hundred. She deserves a book of her own.  I could simply call the book "Why I Love My Dog so Much." It would be the skinniest book ever printed with just five pages. 

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As I sit here writing this post, my arms are vibrating and I feel as if I'm going to be sick. That's because my precious "one-in-a-million" little girl is hooked up to IV's at Noah's Ark Emergency Animal Hospital (Indianapolis) just five minutes--if you drive 85 miles-an-hour and go through every stop light--away.

It all happened so fast. Yesterday she was fine. Today she's struggling to make it through the day. An odd behavior at bedtime--Am I imagining it?--a progressively downhill night--Not imagining. There is something very wrong!--A whine for help; then a yelp followed by a scream--Oh, no! Where's the nearest vet?--A seizure--The terror; the record-breaking race to the vet.  The IV's. The grim prognosis. The wait.

I sit here with my vibrating arms and a sick gut feeling hoping they will call me and say, "Your little girl is fine now. Come and get her."

Update: 3/3/17. I did get a call; she did come home but with a new normal now: seizures most likely from a brain tumor. Yesterday, Maggie Mae passed away peacefully in my arms.

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Here's why I love Maggie Mae so much:

When Tom and I got married in 2002, he asked me if I would like to get a dog. My answer was, "I don't think I'm a dog person," and then we went straight out and got a dog. I was wrong about not being a dog person. Even though I know the time is coming and sooner than I would like, I can't imagine life without Maggie Mae.

Over the last thirteen years (update: fifteen as of 3/2017)--I've tried to list all of the reasons why I love my dog so much, but the list is so long, I lose track somewhere in the middle. Here are just a few reasons. I'm sure I'll think of more later.

Maggie is always happy. She loves me unconditionally and she is thrilled to see me when I return home...even if I've only been gone five minutes.

"You're back! You're back! I'm so happy you're back! 

I've missed you so much."

She listens attentively to everything I say.

'Yes...yes...go on. I'm listening."

"Still listening...but are you ever going to

mention 'eat' or 'ball' or 'outside' or
'squirrel'?" I like those words."

Maggie Mae is the smartest dog I have ever known. She understands complete sentences like, "Do you want something to eat?"

and "Wanna play with your ball?"

and "Wanna go outside? Maybe there's squirrels out there."

Maggie is so smart that she can even read words. 

...and tell time.

She's a devoted companion and wants to go with me everywhere I go.

She always wants to be with me; she follows me from room to room.

She just loves being with me.

She protects me from perceived danger.

She comforts me when I'm sick.

I love her cute little butt and her soft belly.

Just in case this pix goes viral on the Internet

I have blurred out Maggie Mae's face.

Love, love, love that belly.

And I love that she never asks for money or keys to the car.

Nope! This would never happen

if you owned a dog. 

If you don't have a dog, you don't know what unconditional love is...from a dog's perspective.