Someone wrote on one of my posts the other day ‘it takes a village.’ This hit home massively to me because it hits the nail on the head as to some of the issues we are being faced with right now.
A village doesn’t just mean, people helping out here and there. It’s about everyone you encounter on your puppy journey. The visitors that come over to see them, the people you take them to.
Those who adore them on public transport. It can be annoying, it can be intense but it’s also quite lovely. It’s the reminder that through all the tough parts. You have something really special. Lockdown took something from us that I couldn’t quite place before. I knew it had created some big behaviour issues, but I was thinking it was from the way our thoughts towards people changed, our stress and a general lack of socialisation. But the truth is, it took away our village.
Help doesn’t just look like a helping hand. It’s also a moment of attention, a smile, an ‘I feel you’, giving you back a second of your time or offering a connection. Seeing you aren’t alone.
We now are left with dogs that we can’t leave because that’s never been a part of our routine. Dogs that don’t like strangers because strangers have been kept as strangers. Dogs that can’t adjust to the normal because normal keeps changing.
I didn’t have a lockdown puppy. But I have dealt with the repercussions of them. I did have a lockdown baby. And I noticed today at a baby shower what I had missed.
I saw a baby being passed around, I saw the 5 minutes that the mum had to breathe. Shake her arms out. The reminder how incredible that first connection is and to watch it from a distance. The joy and social exploration the baby had, to see new faces and explore them with calm eyes. All the simple things that lockdown robbed us of.
And that’s the village. Not the person that takes the baby for hours on end, not the nightly baby sitter. Just the world around you. Just the chats, visits, check ins.
And you my friend, have not only done all this without your village. You’ve done it without even a next door neighbour. That’s why it’s been so hard, that’s why you‘re struggling more than others. That’s why you should give yourself a break and appreciate everything you do for your dog because it’s amazing. You’re amazing. And you have not had an easy ride.
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