Will Rogers said, "If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." Anyone who’s had a beloved pet understands that statement … of the joy and value pets bring to our lives, and also the sense of loss in their passing. We recently lost our 10-year-old English pointer Belle to liver cancer. She was the fourth we’ve bid goodbye to over the years, and the emotional vacuum each has left behind is also a measure of how they enriched our lives. So please excuse me if I get a bit gushy and emotional in this week’s column.
While the choice of pets range widely, dogs, because of their very nature, closeness and dedication to their masters or mistresses probably explains their immense popularity. Although all dog breeds are “hunters at heart,” those of the hunting breeds usually form a unique bond with their hunting masters or mistresses. Whether this is due to the common endeavors they share when hunting, or simply a canine trait, regardless of the shared activities they have with their humans. Hunters and their canine companions basically form a bonded team with a sole purpose, to hunt. Unfortunately, a good dog’s lifespan can’t and doesn’t usually match that of its owner’s
I’ve often heard people who’ve just lost a beloved dog remark that “I’ll never go through that again,” meaning, I guess, that the grief they felt offset the joy the dog brought to their lives. The huge popularity of John Grogan’s best-selling book “Marley & Me” and the resulting movie exemplify that. If you’re an outdoor enthusiast, having a canine companion means you’ll always have someone who’ll eagerly and gladly join you on whatever outdoor adventures you enjoy, come rain or shine. And they won’t complain or second-guess you if the outing or weather isn’t perfect.
Years ago, I wrote a supplemental column for the Evening Sun entitled “Canine Companion Corner” where I listed appropriate outdoor-type dogs available for adoption at the SPCA shelter. In fact, the acquiring of one of our past dogs resulted from that, a German shorthair-English setter cross pup that we named “Pepper” because of her unique salt-and-pepper markings. She was also a great dog, hunter and pet that shared our lives and my upland hunting adventures for nearly nine years. Certainly her passing broke our hearts, but as should be the case, the vacuum she left in our lives cried out for a replacement whose personality and presence would honor his or her predecessor. Belle filled that gap.
And in my book, that’s what having a dog is all about. None will be capable of sharing your entire natural life, but a series of them will bring enrichment and companionship that are generally unmatched, through good times and bad, and all they ask for is to be near you. Pretty good trade-off, I’d say, for periodically having to deal with their loss when their time comes.
We all know that kids and dogs go together like milk and cookies. I think the reason for that is both view the world around them with wide-eyed enthusiasm and no biases. When a pet expires, some adults may be concerned what its impact will be on the child. But I’m reminded of a story by a veterinarian of when a little boy gave his explanation of why the boy’s dog died. The boy said, “"Everybody is born so that they can learn how to live a good life – like loving everybody and being nice, right? Well, animals already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long." Kids will, indeed, often surprise you.
In her excellent book, Holiness in Hidden Places, Joni Eareckson Tada says, " Of all the dazzling discoveries and ecstatic pleasures heaven will hold for us, the potential of seeing Scrappy [sic, her dog] would be pure whimsy—utterly, joyfully, surprisingly superfluous. … Heaven is going to be a place that will refract and reflect in as many ways as possible the goodness of joy of our great God, who delights in lavishing love on his children.”
And in a poem about the world to come, theologian John Piper writes: And as I knelt beside the brook to drink eternal life, I took a glance across the golden grass, and saw my dog, old Blackie, fast as she could come. She leaped the stream— almost—and what a happy gleam was in her eye. I knelt to drink and knew that I was on the brink of endless joy. And everywhere I turned I saw a wonder there.
I think it’s hard to be a frequent visitor and part of the natural world without seeing all the wonders and miracles that go on there, and the amazing complexities that mesh it all into one obvious plan that renews itself, year after year, much like reoccurring memories that take on an ongoing life of their own. When all is said and done, it is those memories we amass and carry through our lives that shape and sustain us. And our pets certainly play a major part in that ongoing script we call life.