Our Loyal Companions 

Ever since I was a young girl, I’ve had a dog or two in the household at a time. I’ve been very fortunate to have experienced the immense joys of bringing a puppy home for the first time, watching them grow through their devious troublemaker phases and into slightly more well-behaved dogs. As a dog owner, you experience the highs of young puppy love, and on the flip side, the agonizing pain that comes along with having to let them go at the end of their short lives.  

My family and I are dog lovers through and through; except for my dad, really. It takes a special type of dog to capture my dad’s heart, especially since one had done it so effortlessly. The first dog my family ever had was Hailey, a Golden Labrador Retriever who was as loyal as the day was long. Upon entering with a black hoodie over his head into a house with only my mom in it, Hailey barked at and jumped on my dad, thinking that he was an intruder. Of course, he had purposely provoked her because he figured that she would protect my mom, but it further established Hailey’s protective and loyal tendencies. She was the sweetest dog who let my sister and I take rides on her back whenever we wanted, and quickly became our best friend. 

Hailey passed when I was very young, but I distinctly remember the heavy feeling of the day that it happened. Too young to understand that her being gone was permanent, I remember watching my parents cry and the sadness settle in shortly after. Needless to say, when my parents made an unplanned turn on the way back from a tennis practice and informed my sister and I that we were going to pick up a new dog, we were ecstatic. We decided his name would be Tracker, a fun poke at the idea that Beagles ‘track’ scents and all. With his black, brown, and white coloring and freckled legs, my mom and I used to joke that he would not make it onto TV for the National Dog Show. That didn’t stop us from admiring all of the wonderful dogs from our couch nearly every November, though. Tracker was a lively Beagle who spent hours prancing and sniffing around our backyard that backed up to the woods. We joked about his endless stamina and sensitive ears that meant he howled fairly often. Needless to say, playing instruments in the house was uncomfortable for us all.  

When Tracker passed last summer, I was both much older and aware of the feelings that came along with it. I was heartbroken, but all the more happy that I had a loyal and comforting dog like Lulu. She follows me around the house, sniffs and whines at my bedroom door to be let in, and insists that she be let up onto my bed to sleep next to me. Though losing a dog leaves a hole in your heart that cannot be replaced, it is certainly mended by the love that a person and his or her companion have for one another. When you get a dog, you both receive a companion, and become a companion. 

My internship this summer at Vizion Group Public Relations has allowed me to work on fun projects surrounding the National Dog Show Presented by Purina. The actual show will take place on November 16 at the Expo Center in Oaks, PA and then it airs on NBC Thanksgiving Day. Having this opportunity has made me even more appreciative of what it truly means to be a companion to a dog, and has reminded me not to take a second with them for granted.  

This Thanksgiving, I will be putting on the National Dog Show in my household for my family and I to watch, and I’m sure Lulu will be curled up into one of our sides. That, or barking at the TV because she recognizes one of her own.