For the Love of a Good Dog

English is a strange language, especially these words that have become Instagram famous. Since there is a word for the smell of rain, petrichor, and a word for the warmth of the winter sun, apricity, there should be a specific word for the unconditional, once-in-a-lifetime love of a good dog. Puppy love doesn’t completely capture it. I have been lucky enough to experience this with my German Shepherd Stella.

She came into my life at the perfect time. It was 2010 and I was at the beginning of my career as an emergency nurse. It’s a challenging, high-stress job. I would come home from work and she just seemed to know exactly what I was feeling.  I was still single at that time too and there’s a lot to be said for having the support of that unconditional-dog-love while trying to date and search for a relationship. She loved me fiercely and would do anything for me. When Brett came into my life, she loved him too but I was still clearly her person. 

Life continued on and a few years later we had our first daughter. Before I became a mom, I had a feeling that after childbirth  I would love and have pride in what my womanly body could accomplish. I had heard that I would fall more in love with my husband seeing him in this new role as a dad. It made sense to me that I would appreciate and cherish my own mother more as I could relate to her on a different level as a mom too. All of these things were true, and significantly more true than I could have imagined. But it was a surprise to me to see how much my dog would love my babies.

Stella was so gentle when the kids, especially when they were babies. She would lay on the blanket with us while we played our little baby games. Patient with tummy time, a good sport through peek-a-boo, and a handful of precious yard naps.

As the kids got older and more mobile, Stella found a lot of pleasure in being right in the middle of the activity. She had a way of making their little adventures feel like big adventures.

The most wonderful thing about her though was her loyal, protective spirit. Whenever the kids were outside, even doing something as simple as playing in the sandbox, she was always close by, watching. Stella also watched through the windows, following us from room to room, window to window, and peeking in to check on everyone.

I would frequently put baby Sylvie in the stroller to go for walks or out to do chores. She was such a good napper, she would fall asleep quickly in the stroller and I would park her somewhere close, but out of the way, so she had a chance to stay asleep. Stella would guard the stroller like a nanny dog. I didn’t train her to do it or even try to ask her to, it was just her natural instinct to stay by that stroller. She wouldn’t be distracted or called away. Watching over her baby was her number one priority. 

It’s been almost two years since she passed away but the void in our lives is still there. She gave of us the best of herself and we loved her so much in return.

This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in the series “Love After Babies”.