He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader.
He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
- Unknown
Today the world knew about the passing of Vai, the rottweiler. Today would have been Vai's 13th birthday. He was such a soul that never allowed his physically challenged companion / leader / master to wallow in the depressive pits of his physical limitations and the imbecile nature of the rest of the world who looked down upon those who have to face such unique experiences.
Being a fervent dog lover myself, I never see myself as being the "superior" one of the pack, except that for the well being of my furry mutts, I choose to adopt a leadership role that is worthy and able to command respect from my loyal members. We roamed the halls and fields everyday, fresh water is topped up religiously, relief areas are kept cleaned, they are taken through their own hours of play and training, the three of us live in our world depending on each other. One accompanies me everywhere I go, the other is one big loving pillow that melts your heart's rules on snacking outside of snack hours. I don't let myself slack because I know my dogs depend on me. I pick myself up because my dogs depend on me. In return, they faithfully guard me (despite their sizes) and warn me of any irregularities around the house. We play together, we snuggle up together (on the floor, they know beds are off limits) and they help to grow in me the pride that comes with being meaningful towards a cause, towards something for someone or something.
Vai lived on in the setting up of Petpositive, an animal assisted therapy for the physically challenged and elderly. In a funny coincidence, we plan to take in a third dog once we are settled in Melbourne, and it was going to be a rottweiler. Both my brother-in-laws have two loving rotties that simply are the most beautiful creatures ever. There goes the saying, there isn't a bad dog breed, just bad owners. And if I may add on that, there is no really one dog owner, we never own our dogs. We are their life-long companion and we serve to lead, to what is worthy of their devotion.
