How Our Dog Cares for Our Family
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PedigreeGives #CollectiveBias
This is my friend, Saban. She’s our two year old, English Mastiff. She’s a big dog! She weighs about 150 pounds and is more than 5 and a half feet long when she stretches out. I know because when I lay down next to her she’s longer than I am! She’s a giant breed dog sweetly known as a “gentle giant”. It’s true too. In my experience, one of the biggest things about her is her capacity to love. Today I want to share a little bit about how our dog cares for our family and how much she has meant to us, especially recently.
When we first got Saban, two years ago, we were so enamored with her cuteness.
As she grew, her part in our family changed from family pet into family member.
It’s funny how a pet transitions into a friend and family member without you ever being able to pinpoint when it happened. It just happens and they become indispensable, relied on and cherished. That’s how it’s been for me, for all of us in our family. Over the past few months, we realized just how much we appreciate her.
My teenage son had to have emergency lung surgery in August. It rocked our world. Rocked. Our. World. It was completely unexpected, since he is otherwise healthy and runs cross country. It’s still so hard to talk about that I can’t and don’t talk about it in public. It was/is so scary. He’s doing much better now! He’s even back to running, which I think is nothing short of a miracle. That being said, coming home from the hospital while my husband stayed with our son, was hard.
I still had my youngest son at home and my daughter back from college to be here for the whole thing. We were all so hopeful and strong but heartbroken and hurting at the same time. It was tough.
Simply taking care of Saban made us feel better. The routine of feeding her, getting her some exercise and spending time with her also helped us. Of course, there’s the incalculable amount of unconditional love that she gives, that helped make us each feel comforted.
Plus, she’s funny. Just having her be herself has really helped us all continue to heal. It’s amazing how much a dog can mean to a person…and even to other animals.
Her kindness is healing and heart warming. She likes to share, even with our weirdo cat, Domino, who just ate some dog food. What?! So strange.
Speaking of sharing, if you share a photo of the dog you love to Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #LaterShelter you’ll have a chance to be featured on SamsClub.com. The PEDIGREE® brand will donate a bowl of food to a dog in need for every upload! By the way, PEDIGREE® dog food is for dogs, not weirdo cats. LOL!
I bought the PEDIGREE® Adult Dry Dog Food 55 lb. bag at Sam’s Club and Saban’s super favorite PEDIGREE® Choice Cuts Dog Food. Oh, how she loves that!
In order to be able to take care of Saban, we also have to take care of ourselves, so I got some people food while I was there too. They had the best deal on spinach, which I’ve been eating like it’s going out of style, as my Dad used to say. I love buying in bulk because I don’t love running out of things that I need. I like to spend as much time with my family as possible, especially these days, and not running to the store. Although it’s really time to go back for more spinach. I’m just sayin’.
I’ll be forever grateful that I’ve had this sweet friend. She means so much to us. I’m hopeful that from here on out it’s just walks in the park for us all.
Saban and I are happy to know that when a PEDIGREE® product is purchased at Sam’s Club, the PEDIGREE® brand will donate a bowl of food to a dog in need through the entire month of October. Isn’t that great? So, pick your PEDIGREE® products up at Sam’s Club and don’t forget to share your dog photo on Instagram!
Do you have a dog? Tell me about your furry friend!
Hi Joy! I’ve so enjoyed watching Saban grown and I was praying with you for your son’s scary
health incident! It is amazing how our pets know when we need love and comfort – how in tune to us they can be! I’m only a cat mamma now, lost my dog several years ago, but they are so much a part of our lives and certainly are valued family members! Thanks for sharing your story!
Thank you so much, Teresa! I’m so grateful for your prayers and well wishes!
So happy to hear that your son is okay. Saban is truly lucky to have such a loving family as yours. We have two cats, and they kept me company when I was quite sick this year. #client
Thank you so much, Mary. Cats are amazing friends for sure! It’s amazing how much pets do for their families. 🙂