{"id":2779,"date":"2017-05-09T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2017-05-09T16:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/?p=2779"},"modified":"2018-08-15T17:11:26","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T00:11:26","slug":"pets-make-the-best-teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/pet-ownership\/pets-make-the-best-teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"Pets Make the Best Teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s difficult to imagine the person I\u2019d be had I not grown up with pets. Since I was born, I\u2019ve had an animal by my side, teaching me valuable lessons, whether I was aware of it or not. Now that I\u2019m an adult, I can fully appreciate all that my pets teach me, and how much better I understand life through them.<\/p>\n

From my sweet one-eyed Iris, I learned to be brave. Coming from a bad home where she was neglected and malnourished, Iris hid under the bed for the first week after I brought her home. Many exhausting failed attempts at earning her trust finally paid off when she realized I wasn\u2019t out to get her and I received my first head butt. From Iris, I learned that your past shouldn\u2019t define your future, and to let people in even when you\u2019ve been burned by others. She taught me that sometimes being brave isn\u2019t valiantly conquering your fears, but quietly telling yourself you\u2019ll try again tomorrow.\"Lessons<\/a><\/p>\n

Kiggy, the kindhearted little tortie that turned me into a \u201ccat person,\u201d taught me gentleness and to not sweat the little things. With her laidback nature and high tolerance for pestering, Kiggy has always been an easy target for her sisters, who constantly steal the best sunbathing spots, push and shove to get their food first, and relentlessly poke at her when they\u2019re in the mood to play. When little things start piling up and I feel like I\u2019ve had enough, I think of Kiggy\u2019s gentle disposition and remember that there are better things to worry about, and not to be so quick with my temper.<\/p>\n

\"Lesons<\/a>Being different is cool, as I\u2019ve learned from my eight-legged bundle of joy, Puddles. Spiders aren\u2019t a crowd favorite, but keeping my little arachnid only reminded me that standing out isn\u2019t a bad thing. Besides that, he also teaches me and those around him that you really can\u2019t judge a book by its cover\u2014 that sometimes those who seem the most menacing or intimidating are actually the most harmless and calm. From Puddles I\u2019ve learned things aren\u2019t as scary as they seem, and to approach life with an open mind.<\/p>\n

\"Lessons<\/a>I learned to chase adventure from my daring Fern. Bunnies are easily startled and aren\u2019t known as thrill seekers, so Fern\u2019s bold spirit and desire to explore was unexpected, but is now an everyday thing as we kayak, swim, and take walks together. Growing up with cats and dogs, she\u2019s also never let another species intimidate her, no matter how much bigger or louder than her they might have been. She teaches me to be daring despite my fears and that regardless of your size, you\u2019re the only one who can tell you what you can and can\u2019t do.<\/p>\n

\"Lessons<\/a>Lastly, from my stubborn girl Comet, I learned patience. So much patience. Comet has always operated on her own agenda, which coincides with most beagles\u2019 inflexible nature. When she wants a taste of whatever you\u2019re eating, she\u2019ll bark until she gets her way, and when she\u2019s having a good time outside, don\u2019t bet on bringing her in until she\u2019s ready. Now that she\u2019s thirteen, I\u2019m trying to soak in as many of her stubborn moments while I still can. It can be exhausting fighting the losing battle of trying to reason with a beagle, but it\u2019s hard to look at her droopy little eyes and not cave in. Comet has taught me that everything isn\u2019t so urgent and we can <\/em>do that extra lap around the park before we leave.<\/p>\n

From all pets, we can learn how to love unconditionally, how to respond to the needs of someone who can\u2019t speak, how to handle loss when they leave us, and how to heal. These are lessons no textbook could ever teach, and only those lucky enough to have their lives touched by pets will understand. Because the truth is, while we spend countless hours trying to teach our dogs to roll over or our cats not to scratch the furniture, it is our pets who that teach us what life is all about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s difficult to imagine the person I\u2019d be had I not grown up with pets. Since I was born, I\u2019ve had an animal by my side, teaching me valuable lessons, whether I was aware of it or not. Now that I\u2019m an adult, I can fully appreciate all that my pets teach me, and how much better I understand life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":2780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[550],"tags":[228,19,18,449],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2779"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2790,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2779\/revisions\/2790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}