The love of a dog gives us the key to our soul.
My first great love was a dog. Lassie! My generation, born in '62, still knows him, the collie with the big heart. On my knees I begged my parents to buy me such a great dog. No chance! There were 1000 reasons against it. The apartment too small, the fur too long, too dirty, can bark, bite, clean and even where to take it on vacation.
But luck was kind to me. Our neighbor suddenly had two Collies and never had time. He often locked the poor four-legged friends in the basement and I was generously allowed to free them from their dungeon whenever I wanted and go for a walk with them. Unfortunately, the neighbor soon moved away. It wasn't until I was 16 that my greatest wish, to have my own dog, was finally fulfilled. My father gave me a collie puppy. I called him Sascha and he became my best friend and… my coach for many years.
I was a shy teenager, but with and through Sascha it was easy to get into conversation with other people. Every day I had to go out into the fresh air three times, in any weather. I covered many kilometers every day. Maybe that was even the beginning of my lifelong fitness training. It wasn't long before I couldn't imagine my daily routine without exercise and fresh air.
Sascha always stood by me and loved me unconditionally, even when I was stupid or in a bad mood. With his joie de vivre, when he chased a stick, asked me to play or happily romped around with other dogs, Sascha comforted me through many difficult hours. Through him I learned to be happy about small things and not let the morning drive me crazy.
A dog lives in the here and now. At least that's how I feel. Dogs have already got where we want to work our way through years of yoga, zen, and other training. They are already masters while we are still practitioners. Who would want to say that animals are the stupid ones. In terms of satisfaction and happiness, I would have liked to swap places with my dog several times.
To date, various dogs have accompanied me on my life path. Sascha, Sheila, Willy, Krabbe, Molly...thanks to all of you....I can no longer imagine my life without four-legged friends. However, my dogs have become smaller and smaller over the years due to my travel activities. Today my dog travels in my bag with me.
