Lessons from dogs, Number 241: A friend is a friend indeed. To maintain a friendship throughout one’s lifetime, even part of a lifetime, is difficult. To maintain one without serious arguments, long periods of angry non-communication or a couple of seething resentments may be nearly impossible. Unless you are a dog.

 

Two couples have guested here at the Lodge for the past few days; Gunner & Midgee, and Sadie & Buster. They are not romantically or genetically linked but live in companionable peace with each other. Midgee, the Yorkie, licks Gunner’s eyes and face clean every morning without fail. Sadie periodically performs the same routine for Buster. All four will become troubled, quite troubled, when they lose sight of their buddy.

 

Several years ago a book was published; The Friend That Got Away, a collection of essays about women’s friendships that “blew up, burned out or faded away,” to paraphrase its subtitle. I did not read it. I didn’t want to since I had recently lost one of my closest friends, someone I’d known for almost 25 years. It was over a family issue and now we say nothing more than hello to each other when we cross paths.

 

I’m a little envious of the two pairs of friends visiting here. Any disagreements they have last about a half-second, just long enough to growl a warning about some boundary being disregarded. If only human relationships could be so simple.