Alfie
Hmm, a lot of interesting response to my post today and I've been encouraged by some (namely my Esteemed Writers' Workshop Leader) to delve deeper into my attachment for pugs. No doubt I will likely do this in the days ahead, but not tonight.
One of the things I love about pugs is that they don't seem to think too hard and although I can only venture as to what might be going on in their heads, I doubt they have any concern over why they are attached to me. I'm not saying they are dumb, they're not, but other than an overly stressed look that usually crosses their faces when they are begging for food and worried that this time they may not get it, they seem to utterly enjoy the moment and not sweat it too much.
This is not the case with me, although I wish it were. I worry too much and I think too much and to be honest, I am seldom accused of not going deep enough. Truly, I have spent a lifetime overthinking and over-worrying and over-wondering over just about everything. That's why I think my pugs are good for me. They are the antithesis of all this. They make me laugh. They are good company. They do not give me time to dwell in my own head.
Take tonight for instance, I am curled up on my bed with my laptop intent on reading up on attachment theory and pets to see just what my Esteemed Leader is driving at, when Alfie, my two-year-old fawn female and sole pug at the moment, jumps up on my keyboard demanding my attention. She has a bone and wants me to play the game -- is it a game -- I'm never sure what role I'm supposed to play in it -- where she drops her bone and I look at it. Then when I take it, she tries to get it back. But, if I ignore it, she just sits there staring at it.
Tonight I give it a half-hearted look and she must know my spirit isn't in it because she picks it up in her teeth and drops it on the keyboard and then jumps on the keyboard alongside it, stretching her head up to plant a big, wet kiss on my mouth. In the process, she shuts down the Word document I am typing and messes up the audio CD I am burning. It doesn't seem likely I am going to get much done tonight.
Just as I'm warming up to worry about all this, she jumps off the bed and tucks in her rump to do that swift, tightly-wound circling that pugs do that I have heard called "the butt run." My former pugs, Buffy and Vader, were masters of this, each able to tuck their butts under and go in clean, fast circles that rivaled the Tasmanian Devil. Alfie is short and small and can never seem to tuck her body under enough to gain the proper momentum, but she tries very hard.
Those of you who have a pug know exactly what I'm talking about, those of you who don't will just have to witness it one day. I'm not sure if other dogs do something similar, but whether or not they do, there's just something hysterical about seeing these short, stout little creatures performing these donut-like spins. Pugs are not exactly aerodynamic, so it seems a miracle of physics to see them move this quickly and thus, always elicits a laugh. You cannot help but laugh. So, I watch her and I laugh and she turns faster, spinning herself right into her nearby crate. And, I laugh harder because she seems surprised to find herself there. And, she stops and looks at me then plops herself on her butt, almost Lotus style, exposing a Buddha-like belly. And, I laugh and look at her and wonder what I was doing and realize it doesn't matter because for just an instant, I am outside of myself. And, it is easier than prayer or meditation to transcend the confines of my mind and experience in this moment love and laughter and Bliss.