Saturday 5 May 2012

Living in the Present

Maddy has scars.  When they see her, people have said to me numerous times "she must have been abused" or "she must have been a fighter".  To answer them, I could make up something, but that's all it would be, a made-up story, because I don't know what happened to her.  The only one around here that knows is Maddy and she's not telling.


What I do know is that Maddy has progressed in leaps and bounds from what she was like a year ago. Watching her has taught me if we stop focusing on the past, it frees up our time to enjoy the present. 


Today, she is able to walk past a strange man wearing a hat and glasses, sweeping the end of his driveway with a push-broom; something thich would have caused panic in the past.  Now she looks to me for treats.   So my pockets may always have dried up bits of cheese or liver or chicken in them, but thats OK with me.



15 comments:

  1. I like your take on things! Our second Greyhound, Hawk, was so accident prone it wasn't funny. He couldn't walk past a table corner without scraping off some fur! It's possible he got some injuries from another dog somehow, but the most likely story was that he was always his own worst enemy. She also could have just had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time with another dog who had a bad attitude.

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  2. Yoou sound like a regular Cesar Millan! Dogs do help us stay in the resent, don't they?

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  3. She has such a nice sit. Congratulations on making such progress in the past year. She is beautiful.

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  4. It's always great to watch them transition from track life to retired life. Especially if they are shy, skittish, or reserved. To watch them come out of their shell is so rewarding.

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  5. Maddy looks like such a happy dog, she is obviously enjoying her life with you.
    Lynne

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  6. We could learn a lot about forgiveness and trust from our dogs. Deccy has scars too - somewhere along the line he wasn't in a good place, but I've never known a dog like him for putting his heart and soul into loving someone. Deccy's Mum x

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  7. Maddy obviously has come such a long way with you at her side! How wonderful that through your loving home she was able to leave the past behind her!

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  8. I think she has told you her story. Kind of, in her way. And you know it...
    Sometimes I find it hard not to know anything of my dogs' lifes before we met, but that is just the thing with rescues.
    We are just going through a lot of worries with one of our dogs as her past has just come up, having lived in Spain had given some bugs the oppertunity to sting her and give her some buggers that have slept somewhere in her system for about 5 years to start come up now...

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  9. This is so beautifully said...both for Maddy and all of our pups. They certainly have lessons to teach us if we're willing to learn.

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  10. What a pretty sit! She could teach my girls a thing or two:)

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  11. I always wonder what happened to them to give them scars while racing too, but we will never know. It doesn't matter though because their beauty shines through in so many other ways!

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  12. My bridge baby had identical scars to your Maddie! we thought they were tears from taking corners to close and ripping the skin and she also had cigarette burns. Our theory was they burnt her to try and make her run, in all her years with us she never once ran with her pack, so each day I would take her outside on her own and then boy did she run, physical scars heal, mental scars need so much TLC and sometimes never go. Maddie is doing so well you must be bursting with pride at her bravery.

    Love and hugs Sue and the Taylor hounds xxx

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  13. It looks like maybe she got caught on something, maybe barbed wire? :-( It sounds like she has made huge progress thanks to you!

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  14. She's a beautiful girl, scars and all. Our new grey, Kickin, has a few of her own too. I wonder what memories we'll look back on with Kickin in a year. It's so fun to see their progression. Hugs!!

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  15. Beautifully said. It's so wonderful that Maddy is a changed girl and knows how to enjoy her new life. As long as the mental scars go away the physical ones don't matter at all.

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