3 posts tagged “dogs”
"I continue to maintain the serious theological view that dogs give the closest thing to God's unconditional grace that we will receive this side of the veil. Those of us who properly love our dogs in return hurt ever so badly when they hurt. Saying goodbye to them is ridiculously difficult." Todd-Paul Taulbee
Anxious minutes rolled by until he stood up and walked away.
Henley is a huge dog - maybe 155 lbs and about 42" high.
But he's also prone to injury, especially to his spindly legs. And every time it happens, our hearts miss a beat. We love dogs, and Henley and Ellie our miniature schnauzer are part of our family.
It hasn't always been that way. Growing up, both Bunny and I had dogs around, but they were outside dogs. Even after we married we got a lab and kept it in the back yard. But one year we gave our oldest son Adam an opportunity to earn points toward certain things he wanted by doing his chores. he could have earned a new bike, video games, a trip to Six Flags, but what he decided he wanted was a dog.
On so Daisy, the proto-schnauzer came into not just our life, but our home. Daisy was our first inside dog. She immediately decided to test our love for her by chewing all the ends of every window sill in our house. She gradually relented though, and for many years after was the only dog for us. Then several years later came Ellie, as Sean wanted a dog as well. Ellie, though she's the same breed as Daisy was, is a fat girl. But the personality pup is something else.
Then, when my job required a lot of travel away overnight, we purchased Chloe, our first Great Dane. This amazing animal was Bunny's constant companion and protector. She'd ride through some rough neighborhoods in downtown Macon, and when some thuggish characters approached, Chloe would stick her head out of the sunroof of the car and they'd walk another way. She moved with us to Valparaiso when we were called here, and the first night in our house was spent by Chloe, Ellie and me on the floor of the bedroom.
She was an amazing companion who died tragically one night when she slipped the leash and ran into a tree after skidding on some pine straw chasing a neighbor's cat around a corner. All our hearts were broken that night as we buried our friend.
A few weeks later, when I was pouring our heartbreak out on a Great Dane email list, I got a reply from a rescue organization in Tampa that they had a Great Dane puppy, black like Chloe, but a male, that a guy had given his fiancee and she had refused it - and him. The breeder wouldn't take the dog back so it went to rescue. We drove to Tampa, and on the way back, Henley napped in Bunny's lap. He'd outgrow that pretty quickly.
Now he's going on 6 years old, and Great Danes aren't the dogs with the most longevity anyway. So we hurt with him, and we love him fiercely every single day.
Today started awful, but so far he's doing fine.
