What my dog as taught me about confidence

When I was eleven I thought that the greatest job in the world was to train and show dogs. I religiously watched the Eukanuba dog show. I knew every breed and their temperament. I read every book on dog training and ownership. Yet I had never owned a dog. When I got into high school I thought it would be neat to train police dogs and work with German Shepherds and train them to sniff out drugs. Yet I still had never owned a dog.

When I graduated college my need to have a furry companion kept me up at night. My schedule wasn’t as rigid as it was in high school now that I didn’t play sports. I was more responsible and mature enough to take on the commitment of a dog. The only problem was convincing my parents to let me adopt one. Long story short, they finally gave in and now we have a beautiful shelter dog. A schnauzer/yorkie mix with an overwhelming wonderful temperament. We got really lucky; Jackson was worth the decade and a half wait.

Because Jackson is a shelter dog, he has timid at first. Even now he sometimes is skittish and dislikes quick movements and hand gestures. He’s never had an accident in the house and is amazing off leash walking around outside. The only weird thing is was he wouldn’t eat his food unless it was on carpet. He grew out of that.

He was eating over the weekend, adoringly watching my Dad as he ingested his Kibbles. (Jackson and my dad are best friends. I like to call him my dad’s shadow). As Jax is crunching away my dad off-handedly said “he’s so much more confident now.” This struck me deep because I’ve been reading a lot lately about Self-Confidence and Self-Worth.

The truth is, Jackson has taught me a lot about myself in the short time I’ve had him. It’s weird, but I see so much of my personality in his. He was slow to warm up to everyone in the family, but as soon as he did, he loves you completely. He loves to play but when he’s done, he’ll go sit by himself and just play alone or stare out the window. When we come home, his tail wags like nothing else is more important than the fact that we are home for him. He barks to alert us when someone is at the door or walking by our house. At first it was annoying because he would bark at a plastic bag rolling past, but I realize that Jackson knows his home and loves us enough to protect us.

How is it that a dog with such a sad back story ¾ his owner gave him up because she had to go into a nursing home. Then he went to a neighbor who put him in a high kill shelter where his jaw was broken, leaving his bottom teeth to jut out to the side, to being rescued by his foster parents, to eventually coming home with me¾ still manages to forget all that and love unconditionally? How is it as humans we wall ourselves off after we get hurt, but a dog can’t help but love unconditionally even after being put on death row?

I watch Jackson in amazement. He’s taught me so much, but most of all, he’s taught me that the road to home may be paved with dark moments, but finding the people who love you most is always worth it in the end.