Look into her eyes and you see life as it should be.

Sophie is a miniature schnauzer. She belongs to my friend, Sharon, or rather, Sharon belongs to Sophie — and it’s been that way for the past 12 years after Sharon rescued her. It’s amazing how this little dog teaches you lessons about what is so much needed for healthy human relationships.

Lesson One: Unconditional love. You see it and you feel it every time Sophie looks at you. No matter what day, what year, and whether or not you can give any time at all to be engaged in her presence, she looks at you with nothing but adoring love in her eyes.

Sophie has outlived the life expectancy for her breed by a few years, but with her old age comes the return of issues that dogs have when they’re puppies. Sometimes, she pees on the carpet, and when that happens, your reaction is to want to scold her.

Lesson Two: The power of forgiveness. You clean up the mess with a few paper towels and all is good again. That’s because she loves you unconditionally and that should make you think. Why do so many marriages fail, relationships end and families break up for reasons that make you scratch your head? Why don’t we grab a few paper towels, clean up the messes, and just love each other unconditionally?

Sophie sleeps a lot. All dogs do. In the middle of your hectic day of running around the hamster wheel and trying to get everything done, you look at her all snuggled up in her bed and you stop and think again.

Another lesson you learn: Cool the engines. You need down time. Push the off button on the world and experience the joy that comes with stone silence and the exhilaration of not having a single thought inside your mind.

When she awakens, there is still a glint of energy in Sophie’s eyes despite her age. You know what that means. It’s time to play. For Sophie, that means having a boxing match with her. You tap down on the top of her nose and she lifts up her head and grabs your fingers in her mouth and, of course, she knows exactly how hard to bite down. It’s another teaching moment. When you raise a child or run a business, you know exactly how hard you should bite down on them because these are the people who really matter to you.

Sophie teaches you that reaching old age should not end your playfulness. She awakens the child in you. Be a kid again. Play a board game with your friend. Skip a stone across the surface of a lake. Play musical chairs and laugh out loud when you lose.

This sweet pooch has that canine sense to know when you are upset or not feeling well. She comes closer to you. Her eyes say, “Pick me up,” and you do. You rub your hand across the top of her head and immediately you feel her heart beating inside of yours and you just know it’s going to be OK. We all must give each other compassion and empathy.

Sophie stays in the moment. Yesterdays are forgotten. Tomorrows never happen. Engage the present. Time passing means nothing to her. She lives in the now and so should you.

If you have no time for Sophie, she will simply wait until you do. She teaches you that patience and perseverance are vital virtues you need to have to cope with this insane speed of the life that we live. Drive the speed limit. Don’t get angry waiting in a long checkout line in the store. If it takes an hour longer than you thought to do something, then so be it.

At 16 years of age, she is blind in one eye and her hearing is bad, but she encounters her daily environment with what senses she has left. When she was healthy, she learned everything from you by listening. You learn that what goes in your ears is more important than what comes out of your mouth.

When she goes outside and lays her frail little body on the cool afternoon grass, she’s absorbing Mother Nature’s gift of healing that the universe gives us all. Embrace the outdoors. Take a walk. Breathe the early autumn air. Feel the sun kiss your face.

Sophie’s loyalty is instinctive. She’s your lifelong friend, and although people come in and out of your life, you know that she is yours forever and you knew that the first day you carried her in your house. Now that the end is near, you comfort her every way you can. You carry her up the same stairs that she used to bounce up in seconds. You feed her from your hand. You massage her back legs when you see she has trouble trying to stand up. You take care of those you love. You take them to breakfast. You drive them to their doctors’ appointments. It’s not a task or a burden. It’s a labor of love. You give back what you received.

Andy Rooney once said, “The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.” You’re left wondering why the human species can’t get along like our dogs do with us.

After all the money you made, the education you got and the stuff you bought, you realize that love is the only thing that matters. You came into the world with nothing but love and you will leave the world with nothing but love. This is the most important lesson you learn from Sophie. When your best little friend goes to heaven, you’ll carry this thought with you until you see her again.

Death can never end the love that lives inside your heart.

Email Rich Strack at richiesadie11@gmail.com