Dog Is My Co-Pilot

Shawn MacDonald
Aug 27, 2017 · 4 min read

Today is National Dog Day and I didn’t want to let it get past me without sharing a few thoughts about Daisy.

This is the very first photo I saw of Daisy and from that moment, I was gone on her. I’ve always been a dog person, but I wasn’t really “in the market” for a dog at that time. The previous summer, both of my dogs had to be put down within a few weeks of one another. They were older dogs (Gatsby was 14 and Spooky was 12) and each had been with me from about the time they were 8 weeks old.

After losing both of them in such a short span, I just wanted to give myself some space. And, being totally honest, as much as I missed the dogs I also enjoyed the freedom that came with not having to be home to feed them, walk them, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I never minded any of that stuff, but for the first time in over a decade I was free to do whatever I wanted. That was great and I enjoyed that for a while.

As I’ve noted previously, though, I live and work alone. Without the dogs, I was by myself almost all of the time. And I wasn’t depressed or lonely, but I missed having someone around for company. So one day while I was enjoying a long weekend in Traverse City, I got the idea of just browsing a pet rescue website in my head. I can’t remember what spurred me to do it, but I did. And then a week later, I went back. Another week, another visit.

So the idea of getting a dog again started to feel right. I felt that I was ready to do it and then visited the site a few times a week. Until the day I saw the picture above. I can’t remember what name they gave her on the site, but she came from a litter of two, just her and her brother. And I fell in love with Daisy.

I filled out the online paperwork for the rescue and sent it in along with a brief description of my history with dogs, and specifically with Australian Shepherd mixes (Daisy is an Australian Shepherd-Lab mix, my third Aussie mix—give me a mutt any day of the week). Plus, I had to describe my living situation and work schedule. I’m kind of an ideal candidate for adopting dogs. I have a nice home, a fenced yard and work for myself.

Because she was so damn adorable, there was a ton of interest in Daisy, but the rescue admitted to me that they kind of “rigged the system” and put me at the front of the line. They didn’t really rig it, but they gave me preferential treatment because they felt I would be the best fit. So one day in early November of 2014, my mom and I drove down near Lansing where I could meet up with the people from the rescue and meet Daisy. And if it went well, I was going to be able to take her home with me (they were letting her go a little bit before she was 8 weeks because they had other puppies from a different litter from the same home and they were in very bad condition—at least one of them died while in the rescue’s care—and their time would be better spent caring for them).

I loved her from the moment I first saw her. She doesn’t look like a puppy anymore, but she’s the most beautiful dog in the world and she’s the best company I could ever hope for. In the past (almost) three years, I think we’ve only been apart about seven or eight nights. It’s rare for her to be more than a few feet away from me (I’m writing at my dining room table and as I type this, she is laying on the floor next to my chair).

There are times she drives me absolutely crazy because, even at nearly three years old, she still has a little bit of the devil in her. She is still a puppy in many ways and while she doesn’t really misbehave, there are times she is as strong-willed and stubborn as any person I’ve ever met. And while she is sweet and gentle, she sometimes plays too aggressively and it drives me nuts. But that’s what love is…I know all of her flaws and I’d still choose her over any dog around.

I’m going to wrap this up now. I have a little TV to catch up on so I’m going to get a small bowl of ice cream and sit on the couch with Daisy right next to me. She’s going to celebrate National Dog Day with a rawhide bone as big as her head.

For anybody reading this who has a dog nearby, give them a scratch from Daisy and I.

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