Crystal is our March 31, 2013 Pup of the Week

The inevitable truth is that each day we get older, both dog and man, and there is nothing we can do about it.   Some day in the hopefully very distant future we will all be dust.  This I accept, but I do worry about this wonderful online world, full of caring friends sharing wonderful stories, shoulders to cry on, invaluable experiences, and great fellowship.  Who will carry on what we have built when we are gone?

Then I remember Crystal and her Mom and I feel better.  Not only is Crystal a young pup who is going to be with us for a long time, but her Mom is very young, and when the rest of our Mommies are too old to use the computer Crystal’s Mom will be young enough to run the whole Internet.

Crystal and her Mom are showing us old hands that we can learn so much if we would listen to our young friends.  Last week, for the first time, Crystal was allowed to run free, and her Mom said that Crystal showed her that being a good dog owner doesn’t just mean keeping your dog on leash but building the trust between owner and dog to have them off leash.  This insight just blew me away.  And, considering that my Mom has never trusted me off leash, showed that the young have so much to teach their elders.

Then there was Crystal Mom’s reaction to my blog saying that Michael Vick would likely fail in his second attempt at dog ownership:  “Making mistakes are a giant part of every humans life. It's almost what their made for.  When humans are impacted by their mistakes, as Vick was, they tend to learn from them. Their mistakes change them. Some humans change for the good, and some change for the bad. We hope Vick changes for the good. I for one dont believ in judging someone for the rest of their lifes over a mistake that they made. I do not stand by Vicks mistakes and dont care for him much either. But everyone deserves a second chance.”  We could not have said it better ourselves (and didn’t.)  

One of our favorite Internet experiences is watching Crystal and her Mom learn and grow together.  Like when Crystal’s Mom saw that Crystal liked to sleep curled up.  She bought Crystal a bed but Crystal, being a big dog, laid every way possible, across it, over it, around it, but with help from her Mom she figured out how to curl up and sleep in it.  That is what I love Crystal and his Mom as they both grow towards adulthood, together they are taking time and figuring out how it works.

So this is for Crystal and her Mom.  Someday we are going to have to leave the Internet to someone, and I can’t think of anyone pup and Mom better to trust with this huge responsibility than the two of them.