Bravery and Trust

Bravery and Trust

Author Ambrose Redmoon once wrote: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important that fear.”

A few years ago, I received a call from my friends at Urban Dog telling me that Bailey had jumped up on the gate and sustained a cut underneath his right front leg. I left the office and rushed over to Urban Dog. When I arrived, I found Bailey behind the reception desk wagging his tail. The wound had stopped bleeding but the cut was very deep. I immediately took Bailey to see Dr. Tung.

At the vet, Bailey was happy to be amongst another group of people who welcomed his arrival. Because Dr. Tung was not working that day Bailey was examined by a very nice vet named Joanne. While Bailey was his usual carefree self, he also knew that something was wrong and so he remained very still during the examination. Not surprisingly, Bailey would need stitches. Joanne said that Bailey should be lightly sedated so she could perform the procedure as quickly and carefully as possible. I protested the idea of sedating him and pleaded with Joanne to let me be there when they stitched him up. Joanne warned me that dogs tend to squirm when receiving stitches and it would be easiest to allow him to be sedated. Well as you might already know by now, I didn’t ever care about what might be “easiest”. I knew Bailey and he was not “most dogs”. I knew that Bailey would remain still if he knew I was there with him—we were a team. After a few minutes of debate, Joanne agreed to not sedate Bailey and allow me to be with him during the procedure. However, Joanne also said that if Bailey began to squirm, all bets were off and things would be done her way.

Joanne and I carefully lifted Bailey up onto the table and laid him on his side. I held him firmly with one arm while I gently stroked his forehead telling him to be brave. Bailey laid there as quiet as I had ever seen him. His eyes never left mine as Joanne slowly and carefully stitched him up. Although I cannot remember Joanne’s exact words I do recall her commenting how she had never seen a dog lay so calmly while being stitched. As I said, Bailey was not just any dog.

Bailey was so brave. Over the course of 13 years I was fortunate to see this bravery on more than a few occasions. But as I look back, I also believe that it was something much more than bravery. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important that fear.” As I think about this statement and my life with Bailey, I would like to believe that his love and trust were the things that that were more important than fear. Bailey trusted and loved until the moment he took his last breath. He chose to believe the good in people without ever entertaining the possibility that anyone could hurt him. On that day at the vet clinic, he trusted that I was doing what was best for him and that I wouldn’t break my promise to him. I know that trust came from his inherent ability to love. I hope he knows that scars on my heart and the tears in my eyes are symbols of my gratitude for being the recipient of that trust and love during each and every day of his life.