There are two things that I have mentioned countless times here on my site. The first is my mental health. I have OCD, anxiety and can suffer with depression. Every single day I work hard to deal with it and be a strong person. The other thing that I mention all of the time is my amazing dog, Martha. My Golden Retriever, Martha is a 7-year-old dog who really is the light of my life. In this post today, I am going to share with you the ways that my dog helps my mental health.
She knows me more than I know me.
There have been times, when I have felt like I am walking on sunshine, but Martha will look at me like she knows something is about to happen. She will turn up how loving she is with me and everything that I mention further down in this post, she turns up. It is like she can smell the depression creeping up on me and it always blows my mind. Is it possible for a Golden Retriever to be part psychic?
She gives the best cuddles.
My wonderful Martha has always been a very loving dog. I attribute that to me babying her a little too much when she was a puppy. I would always carry her around and sit her on my lap. Now, she is 7 years old, weighs almost 35kg and she still thinks that she is a lap dog. However, when I am in a difficult place, she amps that up to 1000. She doesn’t leave my side. Even when I have a wee. Literally, no time apart!
She gets incredibly protective of me.
There have been times when I have been low, and she is very aware. Not only does she throw herself across me and cuddle me, but she will also get incredibly protective of me. She has been known to bark at my husband when he comes near me. It is like she is looking after me and protecting the space around me. The same goes for when people come to the house. My normally lovely and gentile dog becomes like a Rottweiler and anybody that comes close will hear the wrath of Martha.
She brings me her toys.
If I am ever going through anything, Martha will continually bring me toys. She has a huge box of toys underneath the stairs where her bed is. I will be on the sofa in the snug and one after another, she will run up to me with a different toy in her mouth. She will then drop them onto the floor at my feet before running to get another. There have been evenings when I would stand up and have around 20 toys at my toes. I only hope she knows that I appreciate every single one of them!
She makes me get out of the house.
When I can get into my low moods, Martha is my reason to get out of the house. She encourages me to get dressed, put my shoes on and take her out into the fields for a few hours. If it wasn’t for Martha, I would sit in the house and wallow all day long. She is my reason for so much, but getting my ass off the sofa is a huge benefit. The girl keeps me going and I need that from time to time. If I ever sit stationary for so long, she will literally bring me her lead as if to say, “Get your ass up mum”.
As always, I hope you enjoyed this blog post about how my dog helps my mental health. Back when I first started suffering with my mental health, my previous dog didn’t bat an eyelid at me. She probably thought that my moods were an inconvenience to her existence. However, Martha is completely different. I feel like she is more in tune with my moods than I am. It almost feels like she can get an understanding on my mental health before the thoughts hit me. I will forever be grateful to here and this is my ode to her.
