Don’t simply express your joy

Unleash it - wholeheartedly

“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake.” ~ Mari Beyon Ray

Ella

I was full of spunk for most of my life. I only started to relax a little bit when I was around nine or 10 years old. I had a lot of energy, and I lived my life to the fullest. Even in my elder years, I still expressed my joy for the things that I loved – like hiking and pizza.

There was never any question of whether I was having a good time when we were out on a trail. My smile said it all. I loved being out and about, enjoying nature, sniffing all of the interesting scents, and greeting all of the people we came across on our adventures.

I didn’t mind being in the car for long periods of time. I would just sleep in my bed in the back of the car, and save my energy so that I could enjoy myself when we got to our destination. I was always eager to get out of the car, and had a hard time containing myself when we arrived somewhere for a walk, hike, or even just a meal out on a patio. When I was young, I would almost never sit down when we ate out at a restaurant. I wanted to make sure mom didn’t forget to share some bites with me. When I got older, mom and dad would bring a blanket for me so that I could comfortably lay down next to the table.

I didn’t like silly games like fetch (why should I bring it back, if you’re just going to throw it again?), but I did like to play with my toys. I especially loved squeaky toys – the more squeakers the better. I particularly liked my stuffed lamb who had four separate squeakers, and my bear that had squeakers in each of the four paws and one in the body. Mom and I both thought he should have had a squeaker in his nose too.

I had a tendency to bark a lot, but it was just another way that I expressed my joy and excitement. Sometimes it got me into trouble with the neighbors, but what was I supposed to do? I needed to share my thoughts, and barking was my way to do it.

I didn’t hold back my excitement when my humans returned home from being away. It didn’t matter how long they were gone, I made sure they always knew how much they had been missed. I thought I was wholehearted in expressing in my joy, but Mala was even more so. She would zoom around the yard in big circles at top speed at least a few times whenever our parents got home. They called it her Indy 500. When we moved to the mountains, she didn’t have a big enough flat area to satisfy her, so she would include the steep hill in her circles. Mala ran that route so often that she ended up wearing a path into the ground. I’ll turn it over to her to share more about her exuberant joy.

Mala

Mom says I bring a lot of joy to the family due to how well and often I express my happiness. As Ella mentioned, I love zooming around in huge circles when someone I love gets home or comes to visit. It’s how I tell them how happy I am to see them again. My parents always encourage me by clapping their hands and saying “Go, Mala, go!” It’s gotten more difficult to make my big circles with Tessie running alongside me and trying to play with me, but I still do the best I can.

Whenever we’re out on a walk or a hike and I find the perfect size stick (it has to have some girth to it and not be too short), I pick it up and run with it. Sometimes lightly tossing it and re-catching it while I run. I never get too far away from my family, but sometimes I go back and forth a few times before rolling around in the grass and throwing the stick around. Mom thinks it’s funny when I try to keep it in my mouth and roll, because it ends up underneath me. If it’s a stick that has a little branch coming off of it, I’ll lay down and break the branch off, and chew on the ends. It can be fun to play tug of war with sticks too – whether it’s with Tessie or my parents. I usually let Tessie win since she’s my little sister, and I want her to be happy.

When we lived in Broomfield, I loved chasing the ball in the school yard behind the house, or at Bronco Park. Dad can throw it really far, so I start running before he even throws it. Sometimes that doesn’t work out, because the ball ends up going in the opposite direction of where I ran. Mom cannot throw the ball quite as far, and always worries about hitting me with it since I’m so fast. When I’m really into the game, I’ll bring the ball back several times so that I can keep chasing it. Other times I just leave the ball where it falls, because it’s not as much fun when it’s not moving anymore. Sometimes, dad throws the ball shorter distances, up high in the air, so that I can show off how good I am at catching it. I occasionally miss and have to catch the ball on the bounce, or use my paws to get it down to the ground.

Inside the house, I like to play with my toys. When I was a puppy, I would rip my toys apart, but now, I just like to squeak them and play tug of war with Tessie. I lay on my bed and she pulls so hard that she pulls me and the bed across the wood floor. I also enjoy chewing on my bones. To make a long story short, I love to play, so I’m happy that Tessie does too. Ella didn’t really like to wrestle, but Tessie does, so we have many rounds of play time throughout each day.

Tessie

I’m happiest when Mala or Mateo are willing to play with me. Sometimes they’re not in the mood, and they shut me down as soon as I try to get a play session started, but most of the time, they’re up for it. When Mala and I wrestle in the morning on the rug in our bedroom, I jump up onto the bed so I can try to get the upper hand. Mala is bigger than me, so I have to do anything I can, which sometimes means playing a bit dirty and biting her back legs or getting underneath her and pushing her up off of her feet to knock her off balance. People say that cattle dogs play with their teeth. My parents didn’t understand what that meant until they adopted me. Mala and I will open our mouths and smash our teeth into each other or bite each others’ jaws. It doesn’t sound good, and looks even worse, but we’re not mad at each other – it’s just how we play.

When I play with Mateo, I mostly use my paw to tap him and see what he’ll do. He often starts walking towards me, and you better believe I back up, or bring my head to the floor to show that I’m not being aggressive - otherwise he’s likely to pounce and grab my face with his sharp claws and bite my nose. Other times he just starts cleaning me up all over my head and ears and paws. I enjoy the attention.

I love to play frisbee, chase my squeaky toys, and chew antlers and bones too. I’m good at catching the frisbee. Whenever Mala is playing with anything, I usually go over and try to take it. Sometimes she lets me, other times we play tug of war. If she’s chewing a bone, I’ll lay right in front of her and watch until she grows bored with it, and then it’s my turn. It doesn’t matter that there are three more bones sitting near by, I always want the one that she has. When I was younger, I would occasionally fall asleep with the bone or antler in my mouth.

As you can see from our stories, dogs are not shy about expressing ourselves. We love life, and make sure everyone around us knows it. People can sometimes get bogged down in their responsibilities, and all of the expectations that they pile upon themselves (or allow others to add). They forget how to have fun and express joy. As Joseph Campbell said, “We can choose to live in joy.” The more you can fill your life with the things that make you feel alive and lit up, the happier you’ll be. Make those things a priority, and carve out time in your day (every day) to do what brings you joy. When was the last time you let loose and unleashed your joy? If you had to think about it, it’s been too long.