International Dog Day: A Love Letter to Daisy and Max

National Dog Day falls on Wednesday, August 26 this year, and honestly, every day is dog day in my house, but I’ll take any excuse to talk about Daisy and Max.
We’ve got two very different dogs at very different life stages under the one roof. Daisy is our four-year-old golden retriever, all muddy paws and unstoppable enthusiasm, still very much in her “everything is exciting” era. Max is our shih tzu poodle cross, fourteen years old this year, and very much living his best slow, dignified senior life.
But however different they are, they’re both just as woven into our family as anyone with two legs instead of four. They’ve been there for the ordinary Tuesdays and the genuinely hard days. Max has quite literally sat beside me through years of treatments and everything that’s come with my health journey, always somehow knowing exactly when to just lie there and lean in. Daisy’s brought a different kind of joy into the house these last four years, the kind that comes from a dog who greets every single day like it’s the best one yet, which has a way of pulling you out of your own head when you need it most. Between the two of them, they’ve shaped the rhythm of this house as much as any of us have.
My husband and the boys are just as attached. Watching my sons, now grown, still get down on the floor with Max or take Daisy for a walk when they’re home tells you everything about how much these two matter to this family. They’re not “just the dogs.” They’re part of how we take care of each other.
As they’ve both gotten older (well, Daisy’s still got a way to go, but Max has earned every one of his fourteen years), I’ve become a lot more conscious of what they each actually need at their own life stage, from what’s in their bowl to a bit of extra joint support for Max as he’s slowed down. Small things, but they matter when you love someone this much, four legs or not.
However you’re marking Dog Day, give your own dog an extra scratch behind the ears from us. I’d love to know what your dog means to your family, and what stage of life they’re at.