Dogs

I recently received a copy of a book called "Life is Good: Lessons in Joyful Living." The interesting part is it's written by a dog. My favorite author, Dean Koontz, "edited" the book written by his adorable Golden Retriever, Trixie.

I gotta admit that my first thought was that this was pretty strange ... maybe Dean is getting a little too obsessed with his dog (he didn't have one for years and he finally got Trixie, a retiree from Canine Companions -- which gets the proceeds from the book).

But I was wrong. When I was a kid, my family always had a dog. First it was Scruffy and then Chablis (my parents have had two dogs since I moved out, including Sidney, the blue-eyed psycho dog!). Having a dog around the house is just one of the best things. If you've had a crappy day, there's nothing better than rubbing a dog's tummy (now that my kids are a little older, they won't let me do this to them anymore!). The world just doesn't suck when you are petting a dog.

Anyway, because of my darn allergies, I can't even be around dogs anymore ... unless I don't feel like breathing. So, we don't have a dog anymore.

But this Dean/Trixie book actually captures the joy and fun of a dog ... without the need for antihistamines. Forget Plato. Forget Homer. I think Trixie may be the best philosopher of our time. Here are just a few samples:

To live joyfully, learn to love sleep. (She goes on to encourage frequent dog-naps.)
Laugh til your face hurts.
Life is good if you go to movies (I couldn't agree more)
Joyful life means thinking of yourself as a movie star ... but don't act like one.
Be proud but not arrogant. Be beautiful but not vain. Be strong but gentle. Be loving, be humble, be as much like a dog as you can... and be happy.

Yes, it's simple but I gotta admit, it worked on me.