Yes, a dog changed my perspective about life and became my most cherished experience of happiness, learning, observation and adaptation to changes which were and are inspired by my dog, best of breed 2019 Rover Almighty, who is my favorite son of a bitch.

I got this pup in 2016 as my eyes and my heart were stuck into his happy soul. I didn't get to spend too much time with him in his puppy days as I was occupied with a 9 am to 6 pm lifestyle then. This is the only thing that I regret as wished to spend more time with him, so that we could have established a connection of love between us in his very puppy phase.

From night to a morning person

I wasn't so much into him for almost 2 years. Yes, I surely loved him but I still wasn't so close to him. I used to take him for a walk in the night as I was a night person. Like I used to sleep pretty late and so morning and sunrise were always missing from my life.

I started living a new life with my passion of photography. I used to be at home most of the times as nothing new goes so well in the beginning. I soon realized that he, Rover Almighty had a habit of waking us up late in the night, like almost begging us that we let him out for sometime. It wasn't just for one time, but sometimes he used to wake us up even 3 to 4 times in the night at anytime between 2 to 4 am. He used to poop and mostly play in the backyard during that time.

I wondered for why was he doing this to us !! I don't know why but I tried to wake up early in the morning one day, to take him for a walk. All the time while I was tying the laces of my shoes, he was super excited, so much so that it seemed that he was almost laughing and was delighted to know that I'm going to take him for a walk in the morning.

That was day and from then I never looked back. I became a morning person from that very day. I realized that this morning thing was something that was making him really happy and he wasn't so restless for the entire night, like he was for the last 2 years. He is almost 7 years old now and I've been a morning person since last 5 years.

This feeling of waking up early was so wonderful and so new to me. I've been seeing the sunrise everyday since last 5 years. Most importantly, the first thing that I see in the morning is his delighted face looking at me. His happiness became so important to me that even on my worst days, sick days or on the coldest of days, I never missed to take him out for a morning walk.

Relieved from depression

Since 2015, after the death of my father, I faced depression which soon took the shape of panic attacks. It was only in 2018 that I came out of it while being in the company of Rover Almighty. I used to observe him a lot, like the smallest of things in a day used to make him so happy. Like, if I'd scold him for something and he'd be upset about it to this extent that he'd carry a sad face, even a small tap on his head will charge him again. He'd be happy again and in love with me the way he has always been. He made me realize that we must not waste too much of time in being upset about something, rather we must charge ourselves with the smallest of hopes around us.

Creating happiness

He never wants anything more than my love, my attention, a walk, a treat, a drive and our foolish talks.

I learnt from him that how happiness could be created from the smallest of things around us or within us. We desire for a ship to travel through the journey of this life while even a boat is more than enough for making this journey worthwhile. We spend time, money and energy all our lives for getting that ship while the boat which is available with us could've served the same purpose.

I started creating happiness from the smallest of things around me. I tried to stay happy with what I had and have and I'm grateful to Rover for teaching me this small yet a very important lesson of life. .

Self love

In the company of Rover I realized that I'm my own best company and that I need not to depend upon anyone else for my set of happiness and to live my set of dreams. I mostly see him playing around all alone. Not just that but he is really happy while he is playing alone, like he doesn't even need anyone to get his set of happiness for that instant. I took it seriously, and the moment I started living the way he was, I was out of most of the drama and nonsense that I was surrounded with.

Happiness the only purpose of life

Do you know what Rover believes in? He believes that happiness is the only purpose of life and while he is blessed to be living this short life in the world, he makes sure to be happy and to keep everyone happy. I mean, nobody inspired me to change myself to this extent the way Rover has done in these last 5 years.

For these last 5 years, while I lived mostly in the company of Rover, I lived on a healthy mode. So much so that, I even picked up on fitness which started with a morning walk with and for Rover.

Living the present

He lives for a day and in a day. He is not bothered about a tomorrow or a yesterday. He lives what a today brings to him. I live on the same mode now. I keep goals of a day and I do not give too much of a thought about a tomorrow. Neither do I create memories from the instances of yesterdays, that I could recall and remember them. I stay in a today.

Rover has made me realize the value of happiness, love and compassion. He is the one for whom I changed a lot and also got inspired to change a lot many things in my life. There is nothing in this world that I could do to return all the love that he has extended towards me, but I could always make sure to love him back and try to keep him happy for everything that he has given me.

And I'm thankful to God that Rover is not a human being. I believe that even he is thankful for this.

I changed drastically in these last 7 years. Out of which the major part of it was during the last 5 years when I realized the value of Rover and started relishing his company more than anyone else.

He is someone I belong to and I truly, madly and deeply love. He is my parrot, my life stays in him.

I wish him a healthy life.

Amen.....