HOW many of you bought your dogs Valentine's Day gifts, be it a card or some other token of affection?
How many of you thought of your dog before you thought of your human loved ones?
I doubt there are many canines that did not receive a special treat of some sort from their owner for Valentine's Day.
No offense to the bi-ped loved ones, but in all honesty, is there any other creature that we share our lives with that is more deserving of a day of gratitude devoted to the love that they give than our dogs?
There are many things that our dogs give us: companionship, joy, life lessons, etcetera, but the greatest thing they give us is the ability to love, both giving and receiving.
The main reason wolves and humans came together tens of thousands of years ago was because we both recognized an instinctual need for creating and maintaining social bonds through physical contact, be it touching, viewing or verbal communication. This shared innate need for affection that started ages ago has created the relationship we have with our beloved canines today, which really is a blessing.
The act of bringing wolves and humans together could be viewed as an act of Divine foresight. After years of evolution and domestication we now have dogs to help us express that instinctual need for affection and social bonding despite the evolutionary trend among humans of social separation.
As our world quickly becomes more dependent on anti-social, non-physical forms of communication such as social networks, text messaging and emails, our ability to participate in activities that allow us to express our emotions physically and create emotional bonds with each other is quickly deteriorating.
This is not a good thing. Just like dogs, humans need social contact of the physical kind to remain civil and maintain a sense of belonging, emotional stability and inner peace.
Basically, we need to hug more!
It is said that a genuine hug is "an expression of affection beyond words." Current research suggests that every human needs four hugs per day just to survive. We need eight hugs per day to maintain a strong emotional level. Twelve hugs a day are required to grow spiritually and become a better person. That hug quota is not only receiving, but giving hugs.
That is a lot of huggin' goin' on and I will be the fist to admit with my busy life, I'm not anywhere near that eight-hug-a-day quota, let alone twelve!
Except with my dogs. Rarely is there a moment in my day that I pass by my dogs without rubbing their soft ears, or placing my cheek against their heads for a quiet moment of dog lovin'. That's me filling my hug quota!
But dogs can't really hug back. They don't really have arms, after all. That is where the beauty of our human-canine relationship comes into play.
Our dogs express affection without actually participating in the gesture of a hug, yet we gain the same emotional benefits as if they did. It may be something as simple as a dog acknowledging you as you enter a room with a turn of their head, a gentle expression in their eyes and a thump of their tail. It may not look like a traditional hug but we all feel it in our hearts.
A hug is also the moment a dog rests its head on your lap, or asks for attention by slipping their nose under your hand. It's that moment when a part of you touches a part of them in a quiet way.
All of these things make us feel good about ourselves, yet not a word is spoken which is the beauty of a dog's unconditional love.
Joan Klucha has been working with dogs for more than 15 years. Contact her through her website, k9kinship.com.
