A Sibling Bond

My dog has always treated me like a sister. Not his mom, not his “master”, not even his friend, but simply sister.

I fall and he walks past unbothered just like my brother would’ve done. He knows he can break the rules with me because I won’t tell, only siblings are like that. No snitching.

Except when I don’t feed him, and he goes running to my mom…what a tattle tale.

He shows me a side my mom will never know. Taking advantage of my love for him and his puppy eyes, making me say yes to his puppuccino runs. We share peanut butter midnight snacks while hiding in the pantry with the same level of alertness that comes with the fear of mom finding out. He gives me attitude when I get lost on the highway sighing and rolling his eyes when I try to apologize. He loves swimming but what he loves more is walking past me while I’m reading in the sun and shaking off right next to me, wobbling away like the innocent fur ball he is.

He hates sleeping in my room but loves waking me up with his wet nose at sunrise to let me know he has had enough sleep and is ready for his beach frisbee runs…he knows how to play me–but I like him for that. For being smart enough to have different kinds of relationships based on who he is with, kind of like me.

He makes my heart beat sometimes faster than other. The first time I took him on a walk on my own I was confident, I shouldn’t have been. He was like a year or two old, trained by my mom to be a therapy dog,sure enough he listened and passed the test.Those rules just didn’t apply with me.

Picture this:We’re in the woods, going to his favorite stream and we get farther into the point my mom always takes the leash off. When he walks with my mom he goes off, but always turns back to look at her, sometimes comes back to her and goes off again. He walks on his own but with her in mind. Well, when I took his leash off he took off. The fastest and furthest I’d ever seen him run. I thought he was messing around, so I kept my voice normal, swallowed my panic and called him. He just kept on running until I couldn’t see him anymore and maybe he didn’t hear me, but I knew deep down he did. At this point I was running and calling my mom at the same time,shouting while calling and telling her what was happening. She just laughed and told me to calm down. How do you calm down after seeing your dog run away from you like he is never coming back?! I kept running, screaming, and switching to facetime so my mom could “help.” What was I thinking!

Anyways, the running and shouting felt like it lasted like thirty minutes but in reality only five minutes had passed, because when I reached the end of the road, panting and sweating, he was there. I swear I saw humor in his eyes. He knew he was playing with me. He stayed seated down letting me catch my breath, then started wagging his tail, pushed his nose against my hand, and started walking towards his stream.

That day it confirmed that he and I are each our own and decide when and how to do life.

Things I’ve learned about Lucas since he became a part of the family; he never comes when I call him, only if he wants to. He doesn’t give me kisses if he’s not feeling it. He refuses to sleep in my room, and only chooses to do so once a year. To him I am only a sister. We know the love is there, we don’t have to prove it (or he won’t– I always do even if he doesn't want to). Secretly I think he loves how much I follow him. How I let him climb into the ‘no zone’ couch, how I know when his hips are hurting so I adjust him, how I know when he’s feeling a bit blue so I take him on a drive, how each time I give him dinner I ask for a hug and he has come as he won’t be able to eat until he gives me one, how we play frisbee in the beach just him and I.

We have our own secret bond, just like siblings do.

We have our little love language, just him and I.