Life Lessons from a Bird Dog

For those of your who are new to the blog and/or my life, allow me to introduce you to my bird dog, Sadie. She is a German Shorthair Pointer (aka: hunting dog) and she is quite the crazy adventurous little nugget. I realize that her adventurous bird dog tendencies are pretty standard since these dogs were bred for hunting in the field, not chillin' in a fenced-in backyard in suburbia. Jared and I got Sadie when we were in college about 6 years ago. Over the years, I have learned a lot from her (considering she can't talk to me) and I must say that she is a pretty wise little creature. Allow me to share some of her wisdom with you.

Here are some lessons that I have learned from Sadie that we can all apply to our everyday lives. Side note: I seriously considered writing this post from Sadie's point of view, but then I decided that would be super weird and probably confusing. Plus, I'm not really sure how to portray Sadie's voice in writing. I'm pretty sure that since she is always hyper and barking, the entire thing would need to be in all caps. So anyways, here are some lessons about life brought to you by my bird dog. Enjoy.

1. Live your life full speed ahead.
Most dogs spend their time outside frolicking leisurely in the yard, not Sadie. She treats our backyard like the track at Daytona International Speedway. I don't think I have ever seen Sadie lay down, or even sit, in our backyard. She is always on a mission, investigating and discovering every corner and crevasse of the yard. So instead of sitting on your butt being lazy, go out there and discover something new, even if it is in your own backyard.

2. Don't be afraid to charge though any obstacle that life throws at you.
When Sadie is out in the field hunting, she comes in contact with a lot of difficult obstacles that separate her from the birds. But no matter what, she always charges directly into the obstacle ready to over take it. So many times we try to go over or around the challenges we face to avoid them, and sometimes we even stop altogether. However, we are more likely to defeat the obstacles we fear if we charge directly at them and force our way through.

3. Protect the people (or things) that you love. 
I feel like Sadie should have her own "Protect this House" UnderArmour commercial. I don't think that anyone and I mean anyone makes it within 10 yards of our house without Sadie knowing about it, and doing something about it. Any time someone comes to our front door, they hear Sadie and take off. She is loud and proud. Whenever I'm home alone, she sticks to me like glue and follows me around. When I'm in the shower, she sits in the doorway of our bathroom and stands guard facing the front door. If someone she is not familiar with is close to me (especially touching me), she freaks out. I guarantee that Sadie would sacrifice herself and put herself in harms way 100% of the time to protect me. How many people are you willing to do that for?

4. Create your own "no fly" zone.
Don't allow bad people, fears or temptations into your safe environment and if they try to make their way in, get rid of them as soon as possible. We refer to my backyard as a "no fly" zone thanks to Sadie. Not a single living creature dares to enter our backyard or even attempts to fly over it. Any animals that have ever come into our backyard while Sadie was outside, never made it back to the other side of that fence. Sadie rules that backyard and does not let any unwanted visitors get past her guard. In life, there are so many unwanted people, fears, negativity or temptations that try to make their way into our lives. But like Sadie, we have to stand guard and not let any of these bad things enter our "no fly" zone.

5. The challenge is what makes life worth living.
You might think that being a dog does not come with its own set of challenges, well being a hunting dog is different. Bird dogs don't just lay around the house doing nothing, they have a craft that they are very serious about. Sadie is passionate about hunting and will do absolutely whatever it takes to to perfect her craft. She endures all types of terrain, weather and injuries without ever giving up on finding, pointing and retrieving those birds. So instead of whining and complaining when things get tough, take on those challenges with that same drive and determination as Sadie does. I'm going to borrow a quote from Tom Hanks for this one..."It's supposed to be hard! If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard...is what makes it great!" Thank you A League of Their Own for that little mantra.

6. Nothing in life is more satisfying than companionship. 
At the end of the day, love and companionship are the only things that will get us through this life. Dogs exemplify this greatly. All they want is companionship from their owners. They don't need anything else. No matter how many times I yell at Sadie or want to beat her behind for puking on the carpet, she never holds it against me. I can punish her for doing something bad and 2 minutes later, she still wants to snuggle with me. No one gives unconditional love like dogs do. No matter how many times you let them down, they still love you. Just think about that the next time you are unwilling to forgive someone.

7. Don't do drugs. (This one is really a joke...but seriously)
One time Sadie ate a mushroom from the backyard when we were in college. She started acting crazy and getting really sick. We had to take her to the emergency vet. She obviously survived, but was a little out of whack for a while afterwards. Moral of the story...don't eat shrooms. Drugs are bad for you, kids. Consider this your public service announcement for the week.

Those are just a few valuable life lessons we can learn from old, wise Sadie. Bet you never knew you could learn so much from a hunting dog, did you?

In closing, here is a picture of me with Sadie when she was a puppy...because everyone likes to look at pictures of cute puppies. Oh goodie, and it's a blonde hair Jacki flashback too.