Beautiful imperfection and a big dog!

While having a cup of tea with a lovely friend recently we were talking about our family dog Mali - a 44 kg Rhodesian ridge back cross.

While deciding what sort of dog to choose my family had many discussions about the usual things - age, size, breed, hair shedding and so on. Our daughter, who had pleaded with us for years to have a dog was the expert so when she suggested we look at pet rescue we began to search the web. We were amazed and distressed to see so many puppies and grown dogs that needed homes. It didn't take long for us to make the decision to have a rescue dog. 

As we reflected on our choice I began to realise that we needed to let go of some of the expectations we had previously had about our new puppy. With a rescue dog there were no guarantees - we were taking a risk by choosing a dog whose history we would know little about. 

This made me think about the social expectations we have around the search for perfection. We are bombarded with messages to accept nothing less than perfect, and therefore we can get caught up in wanting our bodies, our houses, our jobs, our food and even our pets to be just right, to fit a certain mould. When we have the resources that enable us to make choices I wonder if we take this ability to choose too far and as a result lose the possibilities that chance can give us. I also wonder if we are creating unrealistic expectations for ourselves as life is far from "perfect" and we certainly can't control everything that happens to us. When our lives in general don't measure up it can be a shock that an expectation of perfection certainly doesn't prepare us for. 

If we only look for perfection it can also mean that we may miss out on the wonderful and unexpected joy that imperfection can bring us. Instead we can learn to be flexible, to take some risks, to open our hearts a bit more and see beauty when it's not so obvious. I have found that letting go of the search for perfection has given me permission to relax a bit, to be less critical of myself and others. This has given me more space to see that what isn't so perfect is often just what I need and that often I need look no further than what I already have in front of me. 

We wanted a medium sized dog that didn't shed hair. We ended up with a very large dog whose hair we constantly have to sweep up!! She is also gentle, intelligent, pretty, funny and loyal and has given us so much love and happiness. Mali is not perfect that's for sure, but she is the right dog for us and we are all so happy we took a little risk because there is no way we could have preordered a dog like her!