Hemofarm - Blog - Rea – the Dog that Changed my Life

I don’t have a clue how that happened.

As a great animal lover – a former volunteer at the Belgrade Zoo, I realized that animals should not live in cages or flats. Therefore, I long refused having a pet in our flat, in spite of constant pleas of my children to buy them a dog and their promises that they would devote themselves to it to a maximum degree, that they would take care of it, cherish it, and take over all the chores that go with it.

As any other parent, I agreed in the end.

Two and a half years ago, Rea entered our lives and became a full-fledged member of our family. She feels the greatest happiness when we arrive home from work and the greatest sadness when we are leaving. Since she became part of our lives, she has managed to get us together and strengthen our ties, and I am immensely grateful to her for that. Moments when we are all together, playing with her, are no longer rare. These moments have become our everyday routine.

Rea has taken us outside and it is now not difficult any more to get up and go out for a walk. Instead, it has become a habit, entirely in line with doctors’ recommendations to go out and walk for 15 to 30 minutes every day, for good health.

Walks with Rea are not only daily routine, but they are also long. We often make excursions out of the city because of her. While we are outside in the nature, my thoughts are focused on her, on sights of a city or a place I am in. In a way, she is an anti-stress therapist of a kind, after exhausting days at work and challenging situations in life.

I sometimes have a feeling that she is human, because she understands everything. When I feel unwell, she snuggles next to me, signaling me that she is there, that I am not alone and that everything will be all right. Sometimes, her bark snaps me out of negative thoughts and calls me for a walk. It is unusual how fast I became attached to her and how I could not imagine a day without her now.

As any other dog, she became domesticated very fast. She obeys to most commands, except for those for sleeping time. She then sleeps in our bed, to make sure nothing bad happens to us. When we are not there, she finds something that belongs to us, she embraces that thing with her paws and dozes off.

My friends used to talk to me about that unconditional love that animals give you, especially dogs. I could not understand it before I got Rea. Therefore, if you are deliberating on whether to have a dog or not, as I did, well, do not – GET YOURSELF A DOG! It will love you unconditionally and it will make you happy, as Rea has made me and my family; she has brought us closer together, more than ever before.

In addition to being a source of immense pleasure, Rea helped us relax, focus on each other, talk to each other, be on the move more often and spend more time outside. Rea is therefore a dog that has changed my life and steered it to a course where love and family rule.

Author: Ivana Minović, Hemofarm Foundation Project Manager

Source: Hemofarm Foundation - Rea – the Dog that Changed my Life (fondacijahemofarm.org.rs)