Long Relationships

Bonding With Your Pets
By Rebecca Camarena

Bonding with animals is something that humans have been doing for thousands of years and each relationship between animal and human is especially unique. In the years that I have had my two dogs I have developed a special bond with each of them.

Spencer was my first dog and he was a 10 week old shepherd mixed with Labrador when he came to live with us. He was a challenge as he saw his position as being the Alpha male dog and I was the Alpha human female. It took a lot of years for him to come to an understanding of how to behave. It was in those years that Spencer destroyed everything in the backyard. He dug out trees to chew on the root ball, dug up the entire sprinkler system and ate all the piping. He was an aggressive dog who resisted training even though I worked endlessly with him.

It took six months before he learned to sit, but at age seven he is settling into old age, and has become a calmer dog that has learned to sit next to me and take advantage of getting the attention while the younger dog retrieves the ball. Spencer hasn’t completely given up being a rogue, but we are on to him and when that cloud of dust appears in the yard we know he’s behind it.

If there’s a chance for an immediate bond between human and animal then it happened as soon as I picked up Tasha and held her in my arms at 8 weeks. I knew that she was going to the best dog that one could ask for. She is a purebred female German Shepherd, her mother a purebred of descendants born in Germany. The father dog was the biggest American Shepherd I had ever seen.

I was more terrified of taking the dog away from the parents then of raising the dog. I had no need to worry about raising her as she was quick to learn commands unlike Spencer who required repeated lessons before it sunk in. Her role is as family protector and sheep herder. I guess she considers us her herd of sheep. She runs from room to room and never sits down to rest until she has brought all family members together in the same room.

Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like without dogs and I can’t. Oh, my yard would have a few more trees and be minus a few big holes that Spencer has dug. There would be less hair from Tasha shedding and less dog chores to do, but my heart would not be as full of love for the dogs that have given me unconditional love for years.

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Rebecca is a freelance writer in So. Ca and aspiring children’s authors. Her articles have appeared in local newspapers and community newsletters. She once interviewed Sam Yorty the former Mayor of Los Angeles in the 1960’s. She is an aspiring author of children’s character animal stories, blogging about dogs and cats, book authors and Hollywood. Find her at:

Dogs Rule Cats Drool, http://dogsrulecatsdrool.wordpress.com
Paperback Writer, http://rebecca2007.wordpress.com
The Real Hollywood, http://valleygirlmusings.blogspot.com
Top Notch Writer at Twitter, http://twitter.com/topnotchwriter.com
Dogs Rule Cats at Twitter, http://twitter.com/dogsrulecats