“MAIL-ORDER MARRIAGE”

   The getting-to-know-you stage with a dog or puppy can be as intense and rewarding as the courtship period between people. A dog can pack a wallop to your heart before you know what’s hit you! It’s good to be reminded of that in case you weren’t expecting the possibility of an intense emotional experience. For those people who have never “fallen in love” with an animal, you may have a wonderful surprise coming your way. If you’ve had a dog in the past or even have one now, it’s easy to forget how intensely you can feel about a new dog in the early stages. Dogs and people must be wired to connect this way after centuries of being together—we worm our ways into each other’s hearts in record time and bingo! we’re hooked.

You could think of the first few days with a new dog as sort of like the beginning of an arranged marriage. With the arrival of the “mail-order bride” (your dog) both of your hopes are high but neither of you knows very much about the other yet. It’s really not far-fetched to compare getting a dog and marrying a virtual stranger. In both cases you decide to spend a lifetime together based on little more than a quick meeting. Sometimes there isn’t even a face-to-face if you’re getting a purebred dog that’s being shipped long-distance from a breeder. The decision may even be based on not much more than a conversation with an out-of-state breeder who sends you a photo of the puppy. But even if you get a puppy in person from the breeder, it’s not as though you can learn a whole lot about the dog you’re choosing from a brief visit with a puppy’s whole litter. If you’re adopting from a breed-rescue or shelter, you may have little more to go on than a photo from a Web site, followed by a meeting under less-than-optimal circumstances at the place where the dog has been locked up.

All in all, accepting a dog into your life is a leap of faith. When you think about it, isn’t it amazing how well people/dog relationships do turn out, considering that we have so little to go on before deciding to share our lives (and often our beds) with a four-legged member of a different species?

There’s a magical glue that bonds us to dogs. The deep connection that has always existed between man and dog can transform us and a new canine from strangers into inseparable companions within days.

Copyright © Tracie Hotchner – Originally appeared in The Dog Bible: Everything Your Dog Wants You to Know by Tracie Hotchner