A year of loneliness driven away by dogs

At the end of 2019, I fell ill and had to quit my job and return to my hometown to rest.

Although it is my hometown, I have been studying and working in other places for more than ten years since I moved to the county seat. For this place, I can describe it as unfamiliar.

I just came back and couldn’t work. I stayed at home every day to sleep, eat, read, and go out to the streets sooner or later.

Jiami is not a person's name, but a dog.

To be honest, I never took the initiative to think about raising a dog before, because I was afraid that I would not be able to bear all kinds of troubles, and because I never had the right opportunity.

One day a friend came to see me and saw that I had a messy beard and said that I looked like a lonely old man, which was half joking and half distressing. I don't remember that I haven't shaved or changed my clothes for a few days, and I usually don't go out and don't date. Naturally, I don't care much about my appearance.

When I was leaving at the end, my friend suddenly said, if I will send Jiami over, I will be your companion.

I was moved for a moment, probably because I was alone for too long and really wanted a company, so I nodded and agreed without thinking too much.

A few days later, a friend really brought Jiami over when she got off work.

It is said that the dog has spirituality. He seems to have known that he is going to change to a new home. Ever since he entered the house, he has been restless.

He kept rubbing his head against his friend, making a whimpering sound, probably trying to get the last reassurance from his friend. What's even more exaggerated is that since he became sensible, there has been no dog in the house who has ever urinated and urinated at home, and he actually poops and urinates again.

I later learned that it was a dog's stress response in an extremely stressful situation.

Going downstairs to see a friend, Jiami was lying on the door of the car and shouting at the top of her voice. At first, it was a hoarse scream, and finally it turned into a grievance whimper.

He probably already understood that the owner had left him, desperately trying to find it, pulling me frantically and screaming in the direction where the car disappeared, and the dog leash almost missed a few times.

It was already dark in the late autumn, and there were people and cars on the road. The lights were scattered on Jiami. He panicked like a lost child.

At that moment, I clearly felt his sadness, and this sadness spread to my body and mind.

It turns out that when you are sad, animals are the same as people.

The lonely life suddenly merged into a fresh life, and it was difficult to accept it for a while, so it took a long time for Jiami to come home, and I gradually got used to his existence.

He and I slept in the same room at night. At night, I was often awakened by my dreams, and I stumbled to hear light breathing and snoring. After I came back to my senses, I remembered that now I am not alone, and there is a stupid dog in the house.

I leaned over and listened to his rhythmic breathing, and I fell asleep, feeling inexplicably warm in my heart.

When I first arrived in the new environment, the insecure dog seemed particularly alert. When I turned over or got up, he would instantly sit up and stare at me with big sleepy eyes. When I went to drink water or go to the bathroom, he would follow like a follower.

During the day, whenever I put on clothes and hold keys, no matter what the dog is playing, he will immediately put down the things in his hand and wait at my feet or at the door for the first time, which is really annoying and helpless.

In order to strengthen the relationship with Jiami, I would take him for a run every night.

Once we went to the outskirts of the city, the road was wide and there were few people, so he simply threw a leash and let him play by himself.

On the wide road, Jiami is crazy like a child. I followed behind, and he looked back from time to time to check if I was following. When he saw that I was far away, he stopped and waited for me. When he saw that I had followed, he continued to run.

Seeing him playing with sex, I wanted to play hide-and-seek with him on a whim, so I hid behind a tree next to him while he wasn't paying attention.

I looked sideways, the dog ran on its own, and suddenly turned around and found that I was nowhere to be seen. He looked around blankly, then stopped running forward and started to turn back.

After running back a distance, he still didn't see me, and finally realized that he had lost his master. He was obviously panicked, pacing back and forth in small steps, sniffing the smell constantly, trying to find my trace.

I saw how he was about to cry with his ears pricked up and his brows raised. He was funny and thought he was stupid, so I coughed lightly. The dog's ears twitched and he rushed towards me immediately.

When he found that I was hiding behind a tree, he jumped and jumped on top of me with a bear pounce, like a child in hide-and-seek finding his father, with his tail up in the sky happily.

When the dog is happy, I am happier.

Since I have Jiami, I almost stopped setting my alarm clock in the morning.

At six o'clock Jamie would wake up on time, and then he would walk around the room like a mountain patrol to see if I was awake.

It was relatively light at first, and there was almost no movement. If he found out that I was still sleeping, he would obediently go back to the corner and go to sleep.

Half an hour later, his patrol began again.

Maybe he felt that he had given me half an hour to return to the cage, so at this time he was no longer afraid of whether it would affect my sleep, and his short legs stepped on small steps, fluttering, fluttering...  

From the door to the wall, then back and forth, a regular route, a rhythmic pace...

I couldn't bear it anymore, I sat up with the anger of getting up, and was ready to go into a rage... But the dog would immediately run over and sit by the bed, looking at me with a harmless face, wagging its tail happily, probably out of pride: look , finally woke you up.

Many times, I hope that Jiami is just a stupid dog and can live a carefree and happy life, but the sadness he shows from time to time makes me realize that he actually understands everything.

The end of the epidemic at the end of April, when my sister went back to school, showed me the soft side of the dog again.

When it was time to go to bed that night, I didn't see Jiami returning to the room to sleep. I called for a long time without any movement, but when I went out to take a look, I found him lying quietly at the door of my sister's room, resting on his small paws and not saying a word.

I called his name, he looked up at me blankly, the corners of his eyes were wet, like tears that had not yet dried. I suddenly realized that he was probably sad. Usually his sister would play with him at night, but today he hasn't seen his sister until now. Maybe he doesn't understand, where is the little girl who played with him and fed him delicious food. .

I squatted down and stroked his little head, and told his sister to go back to school. She will be back in a few days. Let's go back to sleep.

The dog seemed to understand but didn't understand, staggered to his feet, slumped his head and returned to his corner to lie down.

Seeing him sad, I almost cried.

Maybe the dog doesn't understand the study and work of human beings and is busy with his livelihood, but most of him knows the joys and sorrows, and he will be sad if he doesn't see the person he likes.

The company of a dog is undoubtedly warm to a person's life, but raising a dog is not an easy task.

Walking the dog every morning and evening is the basic quality of a shit shovel officer, day after day, rain or shine. In addition, dogs are picky eaters and get sick, so I started to wander in various forums and groups, crazily tutoring dogs.

Before I knew it, a year had passed. When I shared Ergouzi's daily posts and was consulted by many people, I realized that I have also changed from a novice to a "senior shit shoveler who can basically solve daily problems." official".

Dogs are a very intelligent species, they have their own happiness and sadness, they will fight with you, and they will express their friendliness and love to you. So many times, I have the illusion that I am actually raising a child who can't speak.

I looked at the calendar two days ago, and suddenly remembered that it happened that Jiami came to me for a whole year, and that night I deliberately boiled two eggs. It is a good day to celebrate.

Only one year has passed, and there are many years to come. In this process, Jiami and I are growing together.

The weather in late autumn is getting colder and colder, and there is a chill everywhere.

I brought Jiami to the store as usual. I sorted out the handicrafts on the window shelf, and Jiami lay at her feet and stared at me in a daze.

A long time ago, I wrote a paragraph:

"The loneliest thing is to fall asleep while reading a book in the early winter afternoon. When I wake up, the cold room is empty, the sky is dark, and the phone is still playing a song alone."

A friend left a comment to me: It is best to have a second dog, although lonely, but no longer lonely.

At that time, I never thought that there would really be a second dog.

In fact, for Jiami, I had the opportunity to feed him a long time ago, but was forced to give up due to various reasons. Who would have thought that time would go around, he came back to accompany me in my most lonely days.

You see, the wonderful thing about fate is often its uncertainty, whether it's what you once longed for, or what you miss, they will come to us in another way.

Just like at this moment, when I was typing, a silly head quietly poked out from under the table, looking at me naively, the afterglow of the setting sun just scattered on him.

It's a magical fate.