News 134, Master Says

Love Your Pets as Yourself

Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Florida Center, USA • June 6, 2001
(Originally in English) Videotape #714

If you have a dog, you have to treat him at least like yourself — with good hygiene, food and love. He’s like a member of the family, only different looking. Every time we take the dog out to relieve himself on the grass, we must pick up the ‘deposit.’ Or we should have plastic ready to catch it, so it doesn’t spread any dirt, disease or filth to other people or to other dogs. If your dog is sick and he relieves himself everywhere and other dogs step on it, those other dogs will get sick, too. And so every time we bring him out to relieve himself, when we bring him back in, we should clean his whole body. I will show you how.

For example, you can get a kitchen towel or any towel. This one (Master shows the towel She is holding) is too small, but it’s just for demonstration. A kitchen towel is tougher. It doesn’t tear. So on the dog, you have to clean everything, because it might smell or stink. Clean the whole body, up and down and so on. First, clean his leg. (Master cleans Her poodle) And then clean his paw, and then all four paws and the pee and the poo. And then he can come into the house. Because then, whatever disease or bacteria he accumulated has been de-sanitized. I use lemon water, but you may have other things.

Use lemon water or vinegar water to clean the house, so the house doesn’t have chemicals in it. Because the dogs sleep on the floor, and they lick the floor when they eat and drop their food. If they eat off of something you cleaned with chemicals, they die or they get sick. And then you spend either the whole money or the whole time for the doctor bill, or you throw the dog out.

This is a problem with a lot of people. They punish the dog for their own stupidity, carelessness and lovelessness. So, many dogs end up in the animal shelter when it’s not their fault at all. It’s the human’s fault and stupidity. Many humans don’t deserve dogs. Sometimes I’m driving outside and I see pickup trucks in the summer heat of Florida; the people put a couple of dogs in this roofless bed behind the pickup truck. There is nothing to hang on to; it’s just metal. And then they get too hot. They run all around and sometimes fall down behind the truck.

Maybe they get used to it. I don’t know how long they have to be used to it. But they probably have headaches when they come home. And they cannot tell you if they have a headache. If you sat in that pickup truck all that long distance, you would have a headache, too. And you even have long, big hair to cover yourself. Those dogs are such poor dogs. Some dogs have short hair; some don’t even have hair. When I see this, I think humans don’t deserve dogs. Dogs are so loving, so kind, and so faithful. They would die for you. They lay down their life for you whenever danger comes. Their guarding instinct comes out, and they would die for you, any time, with no regrets!

But some humans don’t deserve dogs, really. So it breaks my heart every time I see people treat animals this way. At the same time, if someone says you are an animal, it is a curse. It means you are very low, bad and stupid. But can you imagine anyone more stupid than we are sometimes? Some of us are stupid.

Of course, some dogs are raised to live outside. But still, you have to take care so they don’t have fleas. There are preventive medicines; they don’t even cost that much. Once a month, you can apply some worm medication and flea medication, and he will be free of suffering. Once a month, that’s it. Or, there are shampoos to keep him flea-free and things like that. But it’s better to prevent than to kill. We don’t want killing. Even worms or fleas, we don’t want to kill them.

So just prevent it by keeping the dog healthy and clean. Because outside, even though the grass looks good, sometimes it has bacteria or worms or eggs attached to it. So then, if we bring the animal into the house, our house is exactly as dirty as the outside. Many of you also walk with shoes in the house, and that’s how the dog gets sick, too. It’s not your shoes that are dirty. It’s the things you pick up outside that make your shoes dirty. And then you bring them into the house. Sometimes the wheels of your car also pick up things like feces or urine from a sick dog outside. And then when you bring it into the house, your dog licks the floor or your shoes and gets sick.

So if you want to have animals, make sure that your house is so clean you could sleep on the floor, so clean you could lick the floor and feel comfortable. You can clean your house with half vinegar and half water. Fifty-fifty. Clean with it all over, for sanitizing and deodorizing. So if the dog happens to pee there, he will not smell it again. Because if he smells his pee, he will pee in that place again the next time.

These are just some examples. But if you want an animal, you’d better study first how to care for it. You have to study whether that particular animal is suitable to your personality and your lifestyle, also. That’s one of the reasons people throw dogs or cats away, because they are not compatible. They have a hyperactive dog when they are weak and feeble, like an old lady who couldn’t handle it. Or a very messy dog that they don’t train and don’t know how to handle. Or a very playful dog with people who don’t like to play or don’t have time to play. And then they throw away the dog, because they think the dog is bad, bad, bad.

So there are many different types of dogs or animals that could be suitable for you. But you have to study before, also to find out whether taking care of that dog or cat is too much for you or not. Then, if it is too much, you’d better not take it. You have to be honest, that’s all. It’s not that you don’t love all animals equally. You just have to know how to love and which one to love, so the love doesn’t turn into trouble and then pain for both of you. Because the last time, one of you gave my dog away and then you let that dog run away and get lost. And it broke my heart for a long time.

So if you get an animal, you have to commit, no matter what. And if you can’t, you have to find him a good home. Wait to find him a good private home. Advertise in the pet shop. They will find a good home for your dog. And give him away; don’t sell him. Give him away as a friend, as a gift. Someone will like your dog. You can describe his personality, what he likes and what he doesn’t like. And there will be one person who is suitable for that kind of dog. They will pick him up in time.

Don’t give your dog to the pound, because they will kill him in one day. Sometimes they do! It’s not always one day, but from one day to one week. The maximum is two weeks. So he won’t last long there. If that’s what you want, it’s okay. But make sure you know. I want to make sure you know that your animals can be put to death in as quick a time as one day in the pound. But some shelters are “no kill.” You could also give your dog to that kind of shelter. Describe everything about the animal’s personality so that later the shelter can match him with people who would love to have that kind of personality.

There is always a solution. Don’t throw away your animals, because they are living beings, just like us. When you look into the eyes of an animal, sometimes you will realize, “We are equal. We are the same.” And that feeling will send shivers all over your body, and will give you an enlightenment that you would never dream of having. I told you that animals can teach you — also flowers, trees and everything. See how well he behaves. (Master gestures toward the poodle sleeping on Her lap) How can anyone throw away this kind of dog? He is so loving.