A life without a dog is possible ...

One way or another, the well-known folk actor Heinz Rühmann is said to have spoken about life with these great creatures. 

I can only confirm this, because my dog is so much for me: 

He is my third eye looking over the clouds, my third ear listening to the winds. He is the part of me that stretches to the sea. As he leans on my legs, wags his tail with the slightest smile. How he shows his pain when I go out without him, and he makes me understand that I am the only reason for his existence. 

If I am wrong, he forgives me; I'm angry, he brings me down again and makes me laugh. If I'm happy, he almost goes crazy with joy. If I make fools of myself, he looks over it forgivingly. If I succeed in anything, he praises me.

Every day I get to know him better. Every day he surprises me anew. And even if he brings the most manifold madness into my life every day, there is nothing more meditative for me than our common forays through the forest and the corridor. When I return to civilization with him muddy and exhausted, everything is good.

He teaches me to understand where ignorance used to be. His head on my knee heals my human pain. In his presence, I am not afraid of darkness and the unknown. It's not my accessory, my prestige object. my alter ego. He is what he is - a force of nature, a class in itself, a superlative. One of the greatest and at the same time most exhausting, but also most sensitive creatures that a human has ever encountered.

Because of it, I have sunk in the ground countless times, only to go on clouds shortly afterwards. Every day I burst into laughter because of him and when I feel bad, he bends me straight again.

He's just my dog.

 back to the german site