Humans and dog companionship

I was reminded of the impact dogs can have on our lives recently.

Nearing the end of a walk in one off Ziggys’ (my rescued companion) favourite places and heading back to the car we met a lady with a rather nervous dog. We stopped to chat.

As we talked Sue, my better half was chatting with a lady just within my eye line who did not appear to have a dog. A number of cars started pulling up. These cars brought with them the sound of extremely excited dogs.

The car doors opened and a variety of very happy dogs leapt out and all rushed to the river, closely accompanied by the ‘nervous’ dog, who by now was very happy indeed.

The lady without a dog joined the group of dogs and their owners and of they went for an enjoyable walk together.

Sue told me that the lady without the dog lived alone and this group of dog owners welcomed her for regular walks with the group and their dogs. This lady lived alone and could not accommodate a dog even though she loved to be around them. She told Sue that she got an enormous amount of pleasure from this group and the dogs.

There is a lot written about dogs and their impact on lonely people. This little vignette displayed it admirably. Thank goodness we still have people that appreciate the ‘value’ of canine companionship and are happy too share it.