Dog Tales

How fitting for my dear mother in law to share this with me, especially since our dear furry friend has been the star of my weekend. I drove home from work on Saturday afternoon and came across a little black and white dog looking very lost and terrified in the suburb we live in and of course worrying about her getting run over, I stopped the car and called out to her and her little heart must have lept for joy as she bounded over and got into the backseat! Of course, what's a girl going to do but give her shelter and try to find her Mommy/Daddy. I call Mr. J at work and he only laughs and shakes his head as according to him, I have a tendency of picking up strays because I have to 'mother' everything that seems sad!

Anyways, as usual, with any task at hand, I got organised, took her picture and started printing posters. All this while, the little dog sat in the garage as it was still pretty cool and she didn't bark one little bit, she just trusted that I'd take care of her and waited patiently by the door. So a couple of hours later, we were all set and started our mission, loaded her in the backseat with the windows down [I learned quickly that she loved the wind in her face] and stuck posters all over the neighborhood whilst spreading the word around if anyone knew her owner.

It seemed like a insurmountable tasks at first because she could have come from any one of the 3 suburbs closeby and no one I talked to seemed to know where she's from but I never gave up because I didn't know what I'd do with her during the work week when we were away for so many hours.

It was towards the end of the day and what felt like 30 miles of driving around, one of the couples strolling with their baby calls out to me and tells me they found her Daddy! Anyways, it was a tearful reunion, Katie [her name, I found out later] had wandered too far from home and lost her tag.


This is the little girl, waiting patiently for me to get her home!

Anyways, it was a long day but definitely worth the effort.

So without much ado, this story my MIL shared with me.

A Dog's Purpose (from a 6-year-old).

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish
Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their
little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for
a miracle.
I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we
couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia
procedure for the old dog in their home.
As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good
for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane
might learn something from the experience.
The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's family
surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time,
that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes,
Belker slipped peacefully away.
The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty
or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering
aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.
Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, 'I know why.'
Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me.
I'd never heard a more comforting explanation.
He said, 'People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life --
like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?' The six-year-old
continued, 'Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to
stay as long.