Dogs are incredible creatures. They have a lot to teach us about how to approach life, I think. We humans work so hard to hide ourselves from those around us. We build fortresses to show to the world. We hide in our keeps while the soldiers of our persona patrol the ramparts. Some of us have castles so impenetrable that we even forget who we were when we started building.
It takes a free soul to show us what life outside the walls can be like. Dogs have the ability to show us that. Children do too – but the thing about children is that they become adults and build their own fortresses. No matter how old a dog grows in body, they continue to wear their hearts on their sleeves. They always seem to know what’s important; they maintain the sense to only do things that feel right.
People mistake this behaviour for a withdrawal into themselves. They think old dogs become moody or irritable. I don’t think so. They just understand that they’re running out of strength to engage all the time and that they have the freedom to choose how to engage. I know this because before the end they throw themselves into being with their humans with the last of that strength.
I wasn’t there when Echo died. This is the second time that I wasn’t there for our dogs when it really mattered. I feel pretty awful about that. She was there for me in ways I didn’t fully appreciate until I had the call from Dad this morning to tell me that she was gone.
Instead of being there, I’m sat in a coffee shop in Hamburg. On holiday. Miles away.
The weather today has reflected my mood so exactly it’s uncanny. Heavy rainfall, followed by a glorious break in the clouds, then a slow building of the cloud cover until another heavy rainfall. I do love this city, especially at Christmas time; but today it’s a little bit too grey.
Sleep well, Echo, you will be missed x
A Briton Abroad 
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