I was asked if our dog Teddy had ever inspired one of my posts.  Until yesterday, the answer had been no.

I hadn’t been feeling great, probably due to some sushi I had eaten the day before.  But the day was clear and crisp and I thought that some fresh air might feel good.  Teddy is nothing if not a creature of habit.  He has his preferred routes to walk, his favorite stores that he likes to visit (because they always have treats) and he almost always insists on going down to the dog-run.  Not surprisingly, I found myself being dragged down to the path so Teddy could run around.

I never know what Teddy will get up to during any specific visit.  Sometimes he likes to sit next to me on the bench and watch what is going on.  Sometimes he barks at me until I find a ball to throw to him.  Other times he ignores all the other dogs and wanders around sniffing for smells only dogs can detect.  And sometimes he will find a dog with whom to engage, although the older he gets the less frequently that seems to happen.

Yesterday was one of those days when Teddy was in a particularly playful moods.  On these days, he tends to find one of the more “mature” dogs and will engage for a few minutes.  And while there were several dogs that fit this category, there was a nine-month Havanese that honed in on Teddy.  Teddy normally has a low threshold for puppies—their exuberant jumping around annoy him pretty quickly.  I thought we were going to have a similar situation when Teddy tried to hump the puppy who was bouncing all over the place.  This tends to be a classic alpha dog move to let the puppy know that they need to know their place.  Since some owners are not fond of this, I stepped in and separated them.

The minute I moved away, the puppy was back in Teddy’s space.  I was expecting a growl from Teddy that would be intended to “politely” tell the puppy to back off.  Instead Teddy got into full play mode, meeting the puppy up on his haunches like two boxers sparring in the ring.  The puppy would pull away and go racing down to the far end of the run with Teddy in pursuit.  Teddy would then return to my side just in time to be blindsided by the puppy who came in with a flying jump.  Instead of snipping at him, Teddy intentionally rolled over on his back which literally gave the puppy the upper hand.  Teddy wrestled with his new friend for close to ten minutes while I stood back, watching in sheer joy.

I was in awe at the happiness that Teddy was experiencing and at the happiness I was feeling.  I wondered why this moment was so touching.  I realized that one of the things that I was loving was watching as Teddy did nothing more than live in the moment.  He wasn’t worried about being judged—he was purely enjoying the moment.  But the other thing I realized was that Teddy had adjusted his play to best match that of his puppy friend.  As an older and larger dog, Teddy would have been justified in seizing the alpha role but he was happy to let the puppy take that instead.  He was being intentionally kind, his bites were deliberately soft and he was purposefully exposing his belly to give the puppy the chance to get some “blows” in.  And both of them were having an incredible time.

Teddy was not only behaving completely within his nature without any self-judgement, he was also being mindful of how the puppy was doing.  Teddy made sure not to overwhelm the puppy, even though he could have done so very easily.

Here was what brought me such joy—I was experiencing both a moment of self-actualization but one done with compassion and without a need to come out on top.  How many times have I not only been unable to meet my potential, but also not thought about how to gain the upper hand?  I want to be the smartest, the strongest, the most attractive only because I want to be “better than”.  Teddy was showing me that I could be vulnerable without being weak and actually enjoy myself along the way.

I think this is why Jesus said “suffer the little children come unto, for such is the kingdom of heaven”.  He knew that children are able to live their fullest without concern and bring each other along with worries of competition.  They can celebrate each other’s strengths and their own similarities, until they are taught to see differences and measure their own success against the failure of others.  But in their purest sense, children interact without judgement and focus solely on showing the kind of judgement free love that Jesus brought.

So yes, I do find inspiration from Teddy because I know of no one else who provides the same kind of judgement free love that Jesus showed.