I am an avid animal person. I couldn't imagine going long without one.You will see a page dedicated to Labrador Retrievers. This is in honor of F.B. my beloved lab who left this world after he saw me through cancer treatments 2 1/2 years ago.Many times I wanted to quit the treatments but stayed with it only because he was counting on me. He died in my arms at the vets. That's why you'll see the Dog's Prayer on that page. He was my love and my hero. With him by my side I felt confident, secure, and serene. I was bereft at his passing. It was a long time before I could get another pet, about 1 1/2 years. I decided to not get a lab this time for fear I'd always compare him unfairly to F.B.. So off to the Animal Foundation we go. My hubby and I wandered up and down. Finally, I looked in one of the last cages and saw this little bit of black fur staring right at me with his tail in a slow wag. I walked on and came back and he did the same thing two more times. Well, feeling very smug that the dog had chosen me, we sign the adoption papers and away we go. With gold card firmly in hand we're wandering up and dowwn Petsmart. I'm carrying this little bit of fur, while my hubby is adding to our cart at every turn. We're looking at this little guy and trying to think of a name. I had wanted the name Odie for our Garfield fetish, but it just didn't fit. He was just too scruffy-looking with hair sticking out all over and with one tooth visible too. Oops, there we had it, Scruffy !! It didn't take long and Scruffy had permanent placement in our hearts. But not in the cat's. Onyx is a regal black cat who "tolerates" only so much affection from us. And in NO way was she pleased with the new addition. It took a long time but now she is still the boss and even tolerates brief shlubs from Scruffy. Scruffy quickly became inseperable from my hubby. He shadows him constantly and can usually be found on the recliner with him. He "lives" for my hubby's return from work, caterwauling in such an exuberant fashion, one would think he was in agony. I always refer to this pair now as "my guys."Do any of you love labs like I do??? Then click here
The question, it seems to me, suggests more the arrogance of Man than the worthiness of these virtuous animals.
Consider for a moment, these personal observations of the dogs I have known and loved: Without exception, they savored life for all it could offer. They faced every one of their days with a sense of adventure and joy and good-natured spirit, a spirit tempered only by an overriding eagerness to please and love their masters, for nothing gave them more pleasure.
Not to the smallest degree were they capable of recrimination, sarcasm, pettiness or treachery. They were, however, eminently capable of qualities to which Man can only aspire.
"Unconditional love", for example, is a very modern term Man has coined to describe a paragon of loving...an all-forgiving love, a love without reward, expectation, or promise of reciprocity. Yet dogs, from time immemorial, have exemplified this ideal of love.
What other friend, I wonder, would have not a flicker of care whether you were successful or an abject failure, whether you were homely or comely, clean or smelly-dirty, foolish or clever, beggar or king?
Who else would judge you--not by your appearance, power, or money--but solely by the kindness of your hand and heart?
Yet who else, I ask, would forgive a blow with a kiss to the offending hand?
Come what may, he loves--no, adores--you, be you sinner or saint. And he will softly lick the sores and wounds the world gives you, and never ask (or worse, tell you) what you did to deserve them.
And if Man is a dog's "God", what man serves God with such a thoroughly cheerful, immediate and unquestioning obedience as a dog serves his master?
Show me a man who so delights in all the great bounties God has given him.
Show me a man as gleefully grateful for his wonderous blessings as a dog is for a scrap of would-be garbage from his master's hand.
Show me a man as trustful, as humbly devoted, as appreciative and joyfully submissive to God, as my brainless, souless dog is to me.
Yes, show me this man, this saint, who so embodies all these abiding virtures.
Then I will show you, my friend, a man with a soul as deserving of Heaven as the most meager of dogs.
Roy Alan WilsonHave you ever lost a pet that you've loved with your whole heart and soul?Then click on The Rainbow Bridgeto learn about it.
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