“Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way.”
- John Muir
When we brought Wiley home from the shelter, we had no idea what we were getting into. We didn't know his likes or dislikes, his abilities, or really even his temperament. All we really knew was that he was super neurotic at the shelter, and we wanted him to be as happy and comfortable as possible. We bought all kinds of toys, but once he saw the ball he lost all interest in the others.
Much later, when we had him at a pet supply store, we saw his interest in squeaky toys when he heard customers testing them. Naturally we bought him a few, and Pinky became his favorite.
The key about understanding Wiley, something I'm not sure I'll ever fully do but I will always try, is to recognize that if he loves something, he must share it. He is not content to slink off into a corner and enjoy his toys. He wants us to see the toys. He wants us to like the toys as much as he does. I can't tell you the amount of time he spends just staring at us with his beloved toys in his mouth. Yeah, maybe he wants us to throw the ball. Most of the time I feel like he just wants to say "Have you seen this!?! It squeaks and it's rubbery and I love it and I love you so I want you to see this!"
Wiley, like so many of our pets, is a daily reminder about generosity and the joy that comes from it, both in the grand scheme of things and the small stuff. I think most rescue pets enhance our lives that way.
To conclude our post about life lessons, I'll leave you with this video about what would happen if our human friends actually behaved like our canine and feline friends. I think it's pretty funny; I hope you do too. Just a heads-up: there is a middle finger given (can you guess if it's the "dog" or the "cat" doing it? haha). Other than that the video is pretty harmless. Click on the picture to go to the video.
Don't forget we need both your rescue stories to feature on the blog and your pictures of your pets misbehaving for our Animals Behaving Badly feature. Have a great week and check in often because we have some fun stories coming up. We even have a little something for you cat lovers out there!
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