These posts have brought tears of joy to me.
I have two dogs (both of which I got in the seperation). My exAH was the dog person when we got together and it was his inconsistantcy with them that helped me to realize how bad things had become for him. I was not a dog person, but their introduction in my life was the best thing that ever happened to me.
One is a four year Golden Retriever who is just laid back and easy going. The other is a 6 year old German Shephard Dog is where I got "LifeRecovery from". She is my Life Recovery dog. When I was first starting to feel and was struggling with stuffing vs feeling she was acting out all of my emotions (unfortunately they were in less than appropriate formats)...if FORCED me to look at my stuff though and it has been an amazing journey for us as a result. I found an amazing trainer for my dog, but learned that it was really training for me.
Now that I am healing her healing is amazing to witness. I cannot imagine my life without either of my dogs, but I cannot imagine my healing without her. On the other hand now that a lot of the work is done I always have my Golden to remind me to loosen up and play.
Great idea for a post.