A Mother’s Day letter for the women whose mornings start with a leash

Fred doesn't wake me up. I wake up before him, already thinking about what he needs before he knows he needs it. I've been doing it for months, and I still haven't decided if that makes me a good dog owner or just someone with anxiety. Probably both. What I do know is that I've done it for every dog I've ever had, and I've never shown up that early for anyone quite the way I do and did for them, which says something unflattering about my human relationships and everything good about my dog ones.

I wasn't planning to write a Mother's Day letter this year. I know some people roll their eyes at the whole dog parent thing. (I get it! I've rolled mine too, occasionally.) But then I went back through your reviews and I changed my mind. Because what you're describing, in plain language, in reviews about a pet tracker, is motherhood. The specific kind that nobody names out loud just to keep from sounding crazy.

What I’ve learned from Fred, and from you

Fred doesn't complain. He doesn't say "I'm tired" or "something feels off today." He gets up, wags, and follows me to the kitchen the same way every morning, regardless of how he’s feeling or how well he slept. That's why I check the FitBark app. Not because I don't trust him. Because I do, and I know he'd never tell me something was wrong even if he could. He's a mountain dog. Stoic is factory settings.

I think a lot of you do the same thing. You check before coffee. You notice when the sleep score drops two nights in a row. You don't wait for a limp or a skipped meal. You've learned to read something that isn't written in words, and you act on it before there's a reason to panic.

"Since I knew her normal numbers and percentages, I could tell much sooner that she wasn't feeling well. We caught it in the very early stages, and Molly was able to be at home for her full recovery." - Allyssa, App Store

That's not obsession. That's fluency. You've become fluent in a language no school teaches: the one your dog speaks with their body, their sleep, their pace on a Tuesday afternoon compared to the Tuesday before.

I find that remarkable. I find it worth saying out loud, on a day when we celebrate the people who show up before they're asked.

"I like being able to monitor other things like how much sleep he's getting, and the fact that if he should ever become more inactive than usual, I'll be aware of it and can get him to the vet in case it's an early sign of a developing health issue." - Franquie

To every woman who gets up before someone needs her

You know what your dog needs before they do. You've memorized the pattern of their breathing, the texture of their coat on a good day versus a bad one, the exact angle of their ears when something isn't right.

You've sat with them through scary vet visits and long nights and slow walks that used to be fast runs. You've learned to read a body that can't speak, because love does that: it makes you fluent in languages you never studied.

I think about this every morning when I get up before Fred does, already thinking about him, already anticipating what he needs. He hasn't moved yet. But I'm already there. That's the whole job, isn't it? Showing up before you're called.

He doesn't know it's Mother's Day. He just knows it's morning, and that I'll get up, and that we'll go.

That's enough. That's everything.

Happy Mother's Day to every dog mom in our community.

Today is yours too.

Sara, Fred's human and FitBark CMO