This is Chester. He's a 5 year old cocker spaniel with a fat belly, a love of dental chews and an over-active bottom. And since being at uni I haven't been able to spend nearly as much time with him as I would like.
Like every dog, he loves food and all he seems to wait for is the next dinner time. It occurred to me one day this week - whilst he hovered over me emptying a can of dog meat into his bowl - that there are somethings I would like him to know about the world. There are things that, I wanted him to know, we're worth getting up for - and it wasn't always food.
But then, I suppose, as a dog, there isn't much to look forward to besides food, walks, sleep and new people.
If Chester couldn't learn the joys of my world, then what could I gain from him?
7 things I can learn from Chester
1) Everyone is good (until they're not)
One I the most important things that I can learn from Chester is that everyone should be seen as good. He is a great upholder of a phrase similar to 'innocent until proven guilty' only his is 'best friend until proven mortal enemy'.
Every dog Chester meets gets a bum sniff, nose rub or lick. Everyone is his best friend and they stay that way unless they attack him or give of an evil aroma.
Sometimes I feel humans are judgmental of people we don't know or make false assumptions about one person for some reason or another. Chester doesn't do that and that makes the world a more friendly place.
2) Seize every opportunity
As Chester sits at your feet in the kitchen or springs up towards the source of any 'potentially edible and certainly unidentifiable' object on the floor, it may seem that he's greedy.
Perhaps it could instead be called opportunity taking.
At every and any point in the day when he is able to possible wiggle out a bit of food from us, he will try his best to make sure he gets it.
3) Get good sleep
One of the first observations about this dog is that he sleeps ALOT. He spends most of his day getting some shut eye and almost wakes up in the morning just to get his 9am nap. Although, whilst seems lazy, no one will deny the benefits of good sleep.
4) Forgive and forget
They always tell you this: dogs are great at forgiveness. A poorly treated rescue dog will, nearly always, go back comfortably into a home with humans.
Why? Because they forgive.
Chester is good at this. He doesn't hold a grudge. Much.
If he's been told off, he'll still come back for love. If we shut him in a room alone whilst we have visitors (which he hates) he'll still come to us and thank us for letting him out.
For him, it's not about what we did, it's about what we're doing for him now.
5) Never settle for less than you deserve
Chester is good at making sure that we give him what he thinks he deserves. Every morning at he waits for the specific order of food before he will eat anything. We lay out his biscuits in his bowl first at which he growls until we give him his dental stick.
If we put out dry food for him at dinner but don't mix it with any dog meat, he goes on hunger strike and won't eat.
He'll never let himself be denied what he knows he should get.
6) Stick up for yourself
Chester is very vocal. That was on of the first observations that was made after the breeder handed him to us. He whines a lot and growls even more. But he's never stern until he is teased when he will (try to) give us a piece of his mind.
7) Have no inhibitions
Chester is prone to drop a gargantuan stink on certain days whenever we are near. He definitely has no inhibitions in this area and when we tell him about it, he looks at us like: 'What? You think I did that?'
