I wholeheartedly believe that the love humans have for their dogs is one of the most authentic forms of love that exists. Many of us grow up seeing our dogs as just another member of our family who are at times, more tolerable than our actual, human relatives.   

This universal love for dogs has inspired authors to dream up characters we all know and love, like Clifford, Marley and Toto, who have all become ingrained into our hearts and culture. When we read books about dogs, it’s usually hard to avoid connecting to these fictional K9s as if they are our own. We love them like their fictional owners love them, and mourn them when we lose them. Come to think of it, I can't really ever think of a dog book that I haven't cried before finishing.

I feel that if we dig deep, we can learn a lot from these fictional pups because their pure hearts simplify issues us humans find so complicated. Here is a list of things we can learn from from our favorite, furry, fictional friends.

 1. Learn to stop and smell the roses…and know that it’s okay to smell the poop, too.  

“A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours. Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things-a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty.” -John Grogan 

John Grogan will admit that his dog Marley, who we first fell in love with when Marley and Me came out in print in 2008, taught him and his wife to stop and smell the roses. Sometimes, our busy schedules and careers can make it difficult for us to see what really matters, and though Marly was bit of a troublemaker, his pure heart helped the Grogans realize what’s really important in life: family.   

Marley was alongside his owners through their first pregnancy and took joy in the birth of their children. However, Marley also mourned with them through a miscarriage, and taught us all that life isn’t always full of joy. Through this, he showed us that it’s okay to grieve and feel sad, and that going through dark times is so much easier with your family by your side.   

I see this with my own dog, who takes so much pleasure in the little things in life. Nothing is better than a walk around the block, getting the leftovers from our plates after dinner or even Christmas morning, when she lays, completely content, on a pile of discarded wrapping paper surround by everyone she loves. I also see this in how she is right by my side, ready to comfort me, when I am bawling my eyes out watching an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. These little acts of happiness and compassion always remind me to be grateful for the little things and help me get through tougher times. 

2. The value of compassion and forgiveness.    

“It's hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” -Kate DiCamillo 

My own dog exercises forgiveness in simple ways, like by showing how genuinely excited she is to see me when we walk in the door to my house even after I’ve abandoned her for an entire semester, which probably leads her to believe that I'm never coming home and leaves her with nobody to sleep with at night. 

Nevertheless, the moment she hears me step through that threshold, she proceeds to dance around at my feet and is usually even willing to cover me in big, wet, doggie kisses in a display of uncensored compassion and happiness. Why is it so hard for us humans to “forgive and forget” and show our vulnerability like this?

For Opal Buloni, it takes a special dog named Winn-Dixie for her to learn the true value of compassion and forgiveness. This scruffy sidekick has the ability to help heal some of her old wounds of dealing with the sense of abandonment she has from her mother leaving her at a very young age, and Because of Winn-Dixie, she learns that she can still love and find love in the people (and dogs!) that surround her.     

3. The power of community.     

“The humans have tried everything. Now it's up to us dogs, and the twilight bark.” –Danny, The One Hundred and One Dalmatians

For years, dogs have assisted our law enforcement agents bye exposing hard-to-detect evil in society, like sniffing out drugs and bombs. I really believe this trend of using dogs to solve crime all started when 15 innocent pups were kidnapped by an evil fur-enthusiast, and an entire community of dogs helped rescue them, along with 86 other dogs, who were being held in captivity by the evil, animal hating Cruella de Vil, who intended to produce fur accessories with their coats.  

I think our society can learn a lot about the power of working together as a community to help those who can’t help themselves, as did these dogs. Without the bark-chain that rang through the streets of Suffolk, England, The Hundred and One Dalmatians would have never made it back home to Pongo and Mississ and over a hundred innocent lives would have been lost.     

4. Friendship is invaluable.       

We all remember reading about Jess’ struggle to buy Leslie the most perfect gift in Bridge to Terabithia . With no money, he had to settle on giving her a free, scruffy dog rather than an expensive TV, like he wanted to. But what Jess couldn’t predict was how much more both he and Leslie would receive from Prince Terrien.   

PT was an extremely important source of companionship to Leslie, who was usually considered an outcast and had very few friends. PT went everywhere with the two, which also helped Jess and Leslie solidify their bond.   

More notably, after Leslie’s tragic death, PT was a real sense of comfort to Jess in a way that an expensive, material item would have never been. So in addition to learning how monetary value shouldn’t measure actual value when giving a gift, we should also, again, note the incredible healing and comforting presence we get from our dogs through their companionship.      

In addition to bringing people together, we see dogs themselves acting as companions to elderly people who don’t really have anyone else to spend their days with, by visiting sick patients in hospitals, relieving stressed-out college students in the library during exam week and even acting as therapy dogs in crisis situations. So, whenever you need some company or find yourself in need of a friend, don’t underestimate a dog’s ability to make you feel better. 

5. Lying and stealing is never okay, unless it protects someone you love.     

“…and I’m thinking how nothing is as simple as you guess - not right or wrong, not Judd Travers, not even me or this dog I got here. But the good part is I saved Shiloh and opened my eyes some. Now that ain’t bad for eleven.” –Shiloh

We all know that fundamentally, stealing and lying are wrong. But we see that concept tested when Marty steals a dog named Shiloh from his abusive owner and lies to his family for the dog's protection.   

Readers can understand how this is a true test of Marty’s ethics, but had he not made the choice to do these things, Shiloh wouldn’t have ever gotten to enjoy the life he deserved. While I wouldn’t usually condone lying and especially stealing, rare exceptions can be made when it involves protecting those you love.           

6. Real love does exist.

“I found her lying on her stomach, her hind legs stretched out straight, and her front feet folded back under her chest. She had laid her head on his grave. I saw the trail where she had dragged herself through the leaves. The way she lay there, I thought she was alive. I called her name. She made no movement. With the last ounce of strength in her body, she had dragged herself to the grave of Old Dan.”  -Where the Red Fern Grows

Forget Nicholas Sparks, Old Dan and Little Ann are hands down the best examples of soulmates and true love that ever existed. In addition to seeing the way dogs can soften a human's heart, Old Dan and Little Ann show us how big and genuine dogs' hearts are in their love not only for their owners, but for each other. These two dogs also show how us humans have such a large capacity to love in general, and how the support of our own loved ones can encourage us to love even more. 

Fiction or non-fiction, dogs truly are amazing creatures that remind us to stop and enjoy life a little, to let go and show the world how we feel without any reservations, to be compassionate and exercise forgiveness, the power of a community, how thought is what really matters, to challenge our ethics, help us find ourselves and our voices and most importantly, what it's like to love wholly and unconditionally. 

"Love that dog like a bird loves to fly. 
                   

I said I love that dog like a bird loves to fly. 

Love to call him in the morning love to call him 

'Hey there Sky.'"

-Love that Dog, Sharon Creech