I am one of those dog loving people who loves to watch videos of dogs, look at pictures and laugh with fellow dog lovers. I didn’t just love my dog. I love all dogs. Even so, my sweet dog Selby Sweetie who left this world far too soon (you can read about it in my last blog post) was truly special to me. In dog lover circles there is a term for the very special dog you have at some time in your life: it’s your “heart dog.”
Selby was my heart dog in many ways: she literally had a marking on her forehead that looked like a heart (the picture above I enhanced the heart to make it look artistic but it was very heart-like on its own too) she was so attuned to my emotions that she would be upset if I was; and she always had to be near or on me. I have seen videos of dogs using these buttons (there are many out there, here are some on Amazon) that say words or phrases and the dogs are taught to use them. One such video (you can watch it on YouTube, here) I saw showed a dog (Sapphie the Pomsky) trying to console its baby human sibling who was crying and the dog pressed the buttons “It’s okay” and “I love you and I’m here.” This was all caught by the parents in the video baby monitor (they clearly believe in gadgets in that house!). To me that story shows the complex emotional connection that dogs have with their families and it doesn’t surprise me. My Mom fell in the summer of 2023 and afterwards she would call down to Selby in the morning and say “Selby, Grandma is coming downstairs” and Selby would walk over to the foot of the stairs and watch my Mom walk downstairs. She knew my Mom was moving slower and knew that Grandpa and I were trying to help Grandma more, so she tried to help too. I’m not kidding!! She wasn’t just my heart dog, she was OUR heart dog. Boy, do we miss her!
Writing with my heart (about my heart dog)
Speaking of my sweet heart dog, not only did she fill my heart with love and joy, she also inspired it. Recently I have decided to write some children’s books starring my sweet little Selby. I think it will be a really good healing way for me to move forward. I ordered some cute Watercolor books that I am dedicating to writing and drawing Selby book ideas in. My memoir (about recovering from my severe Traumatic Brain Injury) that I have been kind of writing for years has me in creative limbo: I don’t want to start another large writing project like a novel while I am puttering on my memoir. However, I KNOW that I can do the Selby books at the same time and they just might inspire me to finish the memoir!
On a Happy Note…
As I mentioned in my previous blog about losing Selby, I would always end each blog post with a “Selby Sweetie Conclusion” which usually consisted of one or several adorable pictures of Selby. I have thousands of photos and videos of Selby. I was happy taking the photos and videos at the time and now that she left us far too soon I sure am glad that I have all that I do. I will NEVER regret the photos and art and general obsessive silliness that Selby inspired in me. She inspired healing and emotions and creativity. Instead of a Selby Sweetie Conclusion (because life gave us a cruel Selby Sweetie Conclusion far too soon), I have decided to end blogs “On a happy note…”
For this blog’s happy note I want to share the end result of a photo/decor project that I did here in our new house. I was an early shopper of the product Mixtiles, which are your photos printed on 3D tiles that have adhesive backing that is easy to cleanly remove from a wall and move (no sticky residue, no holes from nails, etc.) Other companies like Shutterfly also do photo tiles but I have only used Mixtiles and as far as I know Mixtiles STARTED the whole photo tile trend that the other companies are copying. Mixtiles also keeps improving their product. If I look at the first ones I did (my photos with quotes I graphic designed on top by favorite authors), they look pretty rudimentary (basically just unframed foam core with squares of sticky on the back). Now they are beautifully sophisticated looking with a nice simple black frame/edging, a white trim, a nice back and a really nice strip of adhesive that sticks to the wall and magnetically attaches to the tile). They also have larger products and different frames. The company is always having some kind of promotion and before Christmas I got 20 8×8 tiles for $99 (you could never get so many tiles for that price from Shutterfly, I don’t think and I really like the looks of these too). Mixtiles do a lot of promos like this and it’s always for the 8×8 tiles with black frame/edging. I finally decided where they should go and wanted to share those results with you.
I plan to redo the author quotes with my photos (using different and better photos) especially now that Mixtiles has so improved their product.
This “On a happy note…” actually turned into a product endorsement. Not what I intended. However, I do have another product that has helped me and my parents. It’s technically a “garden statue” from Wayfair but we have it inside by our fireplace. It’s a cocker spaniel and we’ve named her “Sweetie” after Selby Sweetie. Here’s a picture of my sister’s dog Bella being cozy by Sweetie and the fireplace when she stayed with us recently.
What I have learned is that because Selby is my heart dog and helped me start to feel again after my Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) it’s only appropriate that through grieving her I am learning to feel true sadness with my injured brain. I love you little Selby, may you always be my little one!
Writing By Laura 