Ten Important Things Your Dog Wants You To Know

If your dog could talk, these are some of most important things she would like to tell you...

1 - My life will probably only last 7 to 14 years. It will hurt me more than you know if I have to be away from you for longer than a day or two.

2 - If you have patience with me and give me time to learn what you would like from me, I can promise you, you will never be disappointed.

3 - Trust me with your life and have faith in our future together. If I don't feel that you honestly believe in me, I will suffer great emotional stress. My sense of self-worth is totally dependent upon your confidence in me.

4 - Don't stay mad at me for long or confine me to a cage to punish me. You have your friends, your job, and your recreation. I HAVE ONLY YOU!

5 - Talk to me about anything you want as frequently as possible. Even if I can't comprehend your precise words, I can understand the meaning of what you're telling me by the tone of your voice.

6 - Remember no matter how you treat me, I will NEVER forget it.

7 - When you consider raising your hand to hit me, remember I have teeth that could break the bones in your hand, but I choose not to bite you.

8 - Before you scream at me for failing to respond to your commands as I usually do, take time to think about what might be wrong with me that would cause me to treat you differently. Maybe I haven't been eating right or drinking enough water. Or maybe my age is catching up with me and I just can't do what I used to do.

9 - Take good care of me when I get old. Someday you will be as old as me and you will see how it feels.

10 - Be there for me through good times and bad. Never say you can't handle taking me to the vets for stitches or surgery. Nothing could make me feel worse. Everything in my life is easier for me to deal with when I have you standing by my side. Remember my love for you is unconditional and it will last for your entire life.

Resource Box - © Danielle Hollister (2004) Danielle Hollister is the Quotations Editor at BellaOnline and Publisher of BellaOnline Quotations Zine http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8364.a sp

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President-elect Barack Obama, second from the left, stands with, from left to right, Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Secretary of State-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and National Security Adviser-designate Ret. Marine Gen. James Jones, at a news conference to announce his national security team, in Chicago, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)AP - President-elect Barack Obama picked a national security team headed by former campaign rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bush administration holdover Robert Gates on Monday, and said he wants to consult with military commanders before settling on a firm timetable to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq.



AP - The U.S. economy has been in a recession since December 2007, the National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday.

U.S. Army soldiers from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment pray before heading out on patrol in Baqouba, , 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)AP - Barack Obama says the U.S.-Iraq security agreement approved by Iraq's parliament puts the U.S. on a "glide path" toward reducing forces there.



House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., center and junk-bond pioneer Michael Milken, left, sing the ABC song with elementary school students from Visitacion Valley Elementary School in San Francisco, Monday, Nov. 24, 2008. Pelosi and Milken help present first grade teacher Mindy Yip an award of $25,000 for the 2008 Milken National Education Award. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)AP - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is promising Congress will try to have a huge economic recovery bill ready for President-elect Barack Obama as soon as he takes office.



Molly Reyes, of Renton, Wash. holds her son Kendrick, 7 months, while watching police clear Southcenter Mall after two people were shot inside the mall, in Tukwila, Wash. on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008. Reyes said she was shopping when she heard two shots, then ran with a crowd into a store and hid for about 20 minutes until police came and escorted them out of the mall. on  A young gunman remained at large early Sunday following a shooting at the suburban Seattle shopping mall that left one teenager dead and another seriously wounded.   (AP Photo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Mike Kane)AP - Authorities responding to a shooting at suburban Miami mall say one person has been shot and taken to a hospital.



Shoppers are reflected as they enter the Nike Store on Chicago's Magnificent Mile Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)AP - The Thanksgiving shopping weekend may not have been the disaster some had feared, but unprecedented discounts and tempered buying likely resulted in overall soft sales as a buying binge on Friday quickly fizzled. Now, online retailers are ramping up deals to turn skittish shoppers into "Cyber Monday" spenders.



People place petals and touch the photographs of slain policemen at a prayer meeting to pay tribute to Mumbai's policemen who lost their lives in the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008. India's top security official offered his resignation Sunday, a senior aide said, as the government struggled under growing accusations of security failures following the Mumbai attacks. (AP Photo / Gautam Singh)AP - India demanded Pakistan take "strong action" against those behind the 60-hour siege that left at least 172 people dead, as new details emerged Monday about the gunmen and the survival training that enabled them to thwart Indian commandos.



AP - Israel has gotten fed up with spam. Anyone who sends out messages without receiving the recipient's consent can now be slapped with a big fine.

In this April 22, 2008 file photo Tina Fey makes an appearance on MTV's Total Request Live at MTV Studios  in New York.  (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file)AP - Tina Fey's husband is talking about something the "30 Rock" actress would rather not discuss: the scar on her left cheek.



New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress arrives at a police station, Monday, Dec.1, 2008, in New York. Burress was expected to be charged after accidentally shooting himself in the right thigh. Burress shot himself at a Manhattan nightclub Friday night and was released from a hospital early Saturday, the Giants said. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)AP - Plaxico Burress planned to plead not guilty to a weapon possession charge at a court appearance Monday, two days after accidentally shooting himself in the right thigh at a Manhattan nightclub.



President-elect Barack Obama announces that Sen. Hillary Clinton will be his choice for Secretary of State during a news conference in Chicago December 1, 2008. (John Gress/Reuters)Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama named former rival Hillary Clinton as secretary of state on Monday and said Robert Gates would remain defense secretary as part of a national security team charged with recasting America's leadership of world affairs.



A trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, November 13, 2008. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)Reuters - Stocks slid on Monday as news pointing to the deepening economic slump around the world punctured last week's market enthusiasm, with financial services companies and retailers among Wall Street's biggest casualties.



The Nariman House location of the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish Center in Mumbai in an undated photo prior to the structural damage sustained during an attack by Islamist militants. (Chabad.org/Handout/Reuters)Reuters - India on Monday demanded Pakistan take swift action over deadly attacks in Mumbai it said were carried out by militants from its rival neighbor.



Tommy, from Sweden, holds his son Patrick while waiting with other stranded passengers to check-in for their flights, departing from U-Tapao, at a makeshift airline terminal in Bangkok, December 1, 2008. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)Reuters - Thai protesters prepared to end their three-month occupation of the Prime Minister's office on Monday to consolidate their grip on the main airport ahead of a court verdict that could dissolve the elected government.



Workers wearing T-shirts with company slogans at Siemens MR Center located at the Shenzhen High-Tech Industrial Park in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province, November 25, 2008. (Bobby Yip/Reuters)Reuters - European leaders clashed on Monday over how much public money to spend on battling recession as data showed factories were slashing output in the United States, Europe and China.



Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in the U.S. Capitol in Washington November 21, 2008. (Molly Riley/Reuters)Reuters - House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi met leading governors on Monday to discuss the size and shape of an economic stimulus package she hopes Barack Obama can sign when he becomes president on January 20.



Birmingham Mayor Larry P. Langford in an undated photo. (Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Federal authorities arrested the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, on Monday in a corruption probe surrounding a massive sewer bond debt that has forced Jefferson County to the brink of bankruptcy.



A woman shops at a Walmart store on 'Black Friday' in Oakland, California, November 28, 2008. (Kimberly White/Reuters)Reuters - Key retail stocks fell on Monday as investors feared that deep discounts offered by U.S. stores during the year's first holiday shopping weekend could sap profits and would not save a bleak season.



US President-elect Barack Obama (L) nominates Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY, as US Secretary of State during a press conference in Chicago, Illinios. Obama on Monday nominated Hillary Clinton to be his AFP - Barack Obama on Monday nominated Hillary Clinton to be his "tough," "smart" secretary of state and his former foe vowed to give her all to steer America through a perfect storm of global crises.



A Federal Bureau of Investagation (FBI) official leaves the police headquarters in Mumbai. India has formally accused AFP - India on Monday formally accused "elements" in Pakistan of being behind the devastating Islamic militant attacks in Mumbai and demanded that Islamabad take "strong action".




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