October 25, 2007

Crash Into Me?

We have a couple of dogs (Golden Retrievers to be specific) who live next door to us. We have come to love these dogs and they have come to love us...on their end mostly because almost daily one of us walks over to the back fence and gives them each half of a dog biscuit. They are named Crash and Daisy...and they are two completely different animals.

There has never been a more appropriately named dog than Crash. Crash is a tornado of excitement and affection...he zooms all over the yard, barking and jumping, in the hopes of just the least bit of attention. He will come bounding to the fence the minute he sees you, and he'll come for any reason...food or simple interaction. He'll charge right to you...to the point of almost slamming into the fence with excitement. He's always jumping, always barking, always all-out. Always on the lookout for someone to love.

Daisy's older...and acts like it. When she sees you come out of the house, she barks at you with a tone that at first sounds like: "Treat man...I require treats. Now." She doesn't move unless you move towards the treats. When you do bring them to the fence, she comes at her own pace, allows you to pet her, shows some affection back...and walks back.

I remember stopping at some point last fall and thinking: "As a minister, I should try and be like Crash." It made sense...I should always be the first "out at the fence," aggressively welcoming and loving...openly excited and full of energy...conveying, all out, that desire to show love. Daisy seemed distant at times, even a little bit mean.
Then we dog-sat one night, and something interesting happened. We went out to the back yard and Crash ran all over the yard trying to figure out what was going on...he wanted to make sure he wasn't missing anything or anybody. He barked at shadows and ran to the fences...and payed some attention to us, but was distracted. Daisy (now that she knew us) simply sat next to our legs and was perfectly content. She didn't bark or demand treats...she just spent some time enjoying these people she had come to know.
I crossed the back yard this morning with some trash that needed to go behind the garage. The dogs were out. Daisy barked from the back porch, a bark I now translate: "Hey...I'm only coming if you've got something to give." Crash ran, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth repeatedly as I went from house to garage to dumpster to house back to garage before finally appearing with treats. Daisy calmly walked over and joined Crash. Crash was so worked up that he almost choked on the treat...Daisy licked my hand and walked back to the porch.

I was coming off of a vacation this morning...a needed one. It was on the heels of a breakneck two months where I have found myself feeling lonely, tired, and low on energy and initiative. I looked across the fence at one exhausted dog and one quietly resting on the porch and thought: "Maybe she's got something there. Maybe I should try to be them both...a blend of Crash and Daisy."

There's only one problem. That makes me (appropriately enough) Dash...

Or Crazy.