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Darby - The Gold Shadow

All of Our Best

All of Our Best

In part, we were designed specifically by you
From the wolf our many breeds flow
But part of what we are, we became, for you

Compared to humans, our life span is short
And because the time we have here is limited
We have put all of the best into our years

We live life to the fullest, soaking it all in
Whether it is something joyful, scary, or sad
We cannot afford to waste a precious day

For us there is such little time to spend
to do all that all dogs like and need to do, and
If given a choice, we would do it all with you

You complete our lives and make us whole
Because we delight in the time we are with you
We give you all that is good in us to give

If you have hurt us or we have angered you
When we gaze at you, it is with tender regard
Deep in our souls, though you may not see it

The expression you get when you look at us
And your eyes are full of gratitude and love
That is how we see you in our hearts, always

So, when next you take that quiet moment
And we connect, eye-to-eye and heart-to-heart
Know, for me, a day is a lifetime
And love is a gift... we both give

~*~

Copyright 2007 Darby's human

Darby Writes

"My Gold Shadow" is what my skin kin calls me because when she is with me in the backyard, I stand as close to her as I can. My nose sometimes touches her legs, and my paws will step on her floppy shoes. When I step on her flippy-flop shoes, my skin kin lurches forward a bit, then spins around to see if it was me who tripped her. If she looks behind, to her right, I shift just enough to her left that she cannot see me. Same thing if she looks behind, to her left. It is fun, and I'm pretty good at it.

When we are inside, I stay close to her. If she moves to another room, I am there with her. If she is at the computer I will be there on the floor, close by. There are other places more comfortable, or cooler, but I will first just be close to my human. After a while, I will lumber over to one of my favorite spots, like the corner in the kitchen, up against the dishwasher and cabinets. It is cool there and I can prop myself up nicely when I roll over onto my back. From there I can keep an eye on her, so I will know if she goes to another room. If she does, I follow quietly behind her.

I am a happy guy. Have been since I was little. I think she noticed that about me from the start. I was born in a town a few miles away from her town. She drove out to look at me and my brothers and sisters. She really got hooked into us right away. It was the middle of summer and hot. My mom's skin kin kept us in a big outdoor pen with a cute, little white fence. My mom and older sister had free run of the yard and they visited us when they weren't running, playing, or sleeping someplace cool. They came out to see my soon-to-be skin kin. Mom and sis put on their best faces and really impressed my human.

She stayed for a long, long time playing with us, talking to us, picking us up and hugging and kissing us. She very much liked one of my sisters and me, and she couldn't choose between us. Out of the litter we two were almost like identical twins, a little different than the others. My would-be-soon human told the humans where I lived that she would wait for a week and she would let chance and the Creator have their way--If one of us was left in a week, that one would be the fur kin she took home with her. But she did put in her own thoughts on the matter about which of us to pick. While she was with us, she said a prayer and left it in the Lord's hands. Well, I said a prayer, too. I figured I was the best for her. My sister was rambunctious and full of mischief making energy. I sensed that my human--and I referred to her as such to myself, for in my heart she was already mine--needed a more peaceful and calm fur kin. I wanted to be attentive to her, even if she didn't notice it, because I was young and small. You see, the Lord gave me a gift that fits me perfectly. He made me a caretaker for hearts and souls, furry and non-furry.

I sometimes drool. Like when she who is my skin kin is preparing my breakfast or dinner--gobbets of long, stringy drool, or that foamy-bubbly stuff that makes me look rabid. ::insert a little, happy snort:: I'll often drool when I am being her golden shadow, and leave trails of drool on her legs or pants. When it dries it looks kinda like a snail has been wandering around on the backs of her legs. I try not to snicker too loud. Heh he he.

Back to that week of waiting. I was meant for her--the Creator let me know this as surely as he lets me know when it is time to eat and play. I had already bonded to her, as it is meant to be. I was waiting for her, a grin on my furry face and love-sparkle in my eyes. She was not disappointed to find that I was left, she was ecstatic. When she picked me up in her arms, I was already home. She spoke with my mom's humans in their house. She paid the money agreed upon for me... and all the while embraced me next to her heart, up against her neck. She gave me lots of kisses, too, and kept smelling my breath--my puppy breath. She sure did like doing that, which was no problem for me and I was happy to breathe my hot, puppy-face-smiling breath her direction, if it meant I could stare at the human who was now my family.

As you can see, I like to gnaw on things. When I was yet a pup, I liked to chew on sticks, shoes, slippers, furniture, my human's undies and socks, and lots of other things, as well. As a little guy, still with my puppy teeth, my human brought home many different stuffed critters, some kind of plastic bone that lasts a long time and tastes pretty good, and other bouncy chewy toys. She encouraged me to play with those whenever I would pick up something to bite on other than what she had brought home for me. I don't understand why she was so obsessed with that. The things I enjoyed gnawing on were free, weren't they? All the stuff was just lying around and so tempting that I often could not resist sinking my puppy teeth into one thing or another.

Back to the subject of my teeth. When I was small my teeth were quite sharp, as were my hand-paw nails. Sometimes when I'd jump up on my human she would cry out and look down where my hand-paws had been. I'd look, too, and her pants would have strings hanging out of them where I had jumped on her. If she wore short pants, I'd, every now and then, notice I had damaged her skin. I could sense I had hurt her or done an injury to her clothes, and I'd feel bad. My human would then gaze at me and whatever unpleasant expresssion she had on her face would turn soft, and she would often smile. She'd bend down and caress my face or pick me up and hug me. It would work almost every time--that look I'd get when her face was not smiling.

Hmm, I got a bit carried away talking about my nails, forgetting all about my teeth. My human said I had little vampire teeth. My gleaming whites went into things with no trouble whatsoever, including my human. When I'd show her that I loved her, I would mouth her hand or wrist, and my teeth would scrape or puncture her skin. She would do that look and face thing that she'd do when I jumped up on her. I'd respond with my look and face thing. I would also hide my teeth. There were times when she would trim or file my nails--often after one of those episodes of my jumping. Well, I didn't want her doing that to my teeth.

Later, when my baby teeth started coming out, my human would pick them up. My teeth came out in all the places I had been during the day and during the night. She searched in all of those spots, looking for and gathering up my teeth. She cleaned them and then she put them in a tiny bottle and tucked them away safe. Why would she wish to keep something that had, before, taken away her smile? And, why, when she found them, did she have a very silly grin on her face?

Note: I will be writing more. This is my first day and it is rather hard to type with furry hobbit paw-hands such as mine.