When this stranger called COVID came to call, it was with new rules: Go home. Stay. Don’t party or get married or eat a meal out. It was annoying. Also perplexing and isolating.
There was a run on white flour and on toilet paper. And on dogs to love. According to the New York Times, about 280,000 dogs were adopted in 2020. And one of them came to our house in the form of a puppy.
“What were we thinking?” we asked each other as Filson chewed drywall, chair legs and socks. “How could we live without him?” we beamed as our quarantine now included potty training, online orders to Chewy and longer, more purposeful walks.
Our last dog was an adult rescue and when he died, we were sad and empty. As he was failing, I looked around the internet for a grown dog who would need us, knowing full well we would want to take that necessary break that comes with the heartache of loss.
Surprisingly, what I found was a puppy — so before we were actually ready, I urged my husband and son to just go look at him if they wanted to. You don’t have to get him if you don’t like him. LOL.
Our new dog threw up a few times on the car ride home. So what? And what followed was “so what” to so much. Holes in the yard? So what. Tug of war with our tee shirts? So what. Shredded puppy toys? So what. We became so busy sheltering in place with him, we hardly noticed the missing socks.
While learning how to sit, stay and go out, (us, not him), we came to treasure, once again, how, even in the time of COVID, there’s happiness to be had, right underfoot.
It’s two years later with both dog and COVID. We’ve wholly appreciated the respite when boosters came in and masks came off. And the much-needed doggy playtimes with Tammy Thomas and Maggi McClure. After all, everyone knows no matter how much you spoil them, all dogs really want is another dog to play with.
Even so, while writing this piece, I started paying closer attention to the ways fellow dog owners I know show their appreciation for canine companionship in these godforsaken days of COVID and it’s variants, while surreptitiously endeavoring to overcome their dog’s natural instinct to like them second-best.
Susan, a friend in Vermont posted, “The things we do for dogs. Snow-blowing a loop through my field with my battery-powered machine.” Her picture showed her pushing her way through several feet of new powder.
From Ann, last summer, came an image of her dog, Abbie, sporting a snappy-looking doggy life vest, captioned, “Kayaking on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.” Obvious adjustments had been made for the four-legged rider.
Right before Christmas, my husband Eric’s friend, Carl, titled his painting of his dog “Once again, winner of the ‘Spoiled and Loved Group,’ our Pomp.”
And late January, when Pomp passed, he posted, “I thought he was the most beautiful dog I had ever seen. We wonder how we can move forward.”
Eric counseled him to “take time, but another dog needs you and wants to fill your heart.”
It’s true. We sign up again and again to share their lives however long that may be. Perhaps if it wasn’t for COVID, no one would have guessed that 24-7 with your dog is actually a precious bonus.
Margaret Heffelfinger is an artist, writer and the former owner of Silverwood Gallery, in Burton.
