|
|
 |
Yeah for Pets!
By Clarissa Worley Sproul
 |
| Photo: Eric Isselée |
One month ago this week, our sweet Daisy the Great Dane had puppies. Not five, not nine, but ELEVEN of them! I will never forget it. Being the over-the-top kind of breeder you read about in dog magazines, I was there to assist in every single birth. The action kicked off about four-thirty in the afternoon and I was bedded down by about three o’clock in the morning. This being Daisy’s first litter, I was worried Daisy wouldn’t know what to do, yes, so I did it all.
Looking back now, I think Daisy could have handled the job—at least mostly—but who wants to take that chance? We did, after all, have a very close call when I let mommy out for a potty break after puppy five had been born, and she promptly had a pup in the grass. It was really dark outside by then, and very cold and wet. Only by the beam of my flashlight did I get a glimpse of something big dropping to the ground, and scramble to rescue a little girl I now call Turf.
Honestly, I love this whole wild ride of surrogate mom. It’s a grinding blast. More than that, the process of finding them homes is even better. In fact, this is the reason I bring up my eleven little saintly Danes. I want to unabashedly promote this wonderful miracle called having a pet. Not only do they make for healthier and more loving people—like that US Today article on how older folk live longer, recover better from surgery, and even heal faster when they have pets—but they can also work as training wheels for the most relationally inexperienced among us. There isn’t a person a dog won’t worship and love.
Right now, in the middle of the process of selling the puppies, I have experienced enough love to fill the small city I live in. There’s the lady from out east and her love for dogs and the story (complete with photos) of how she lost her last one and is looking for that perfect next companion. There’s the guy who has always longed to have a pup from childhood and is now giving into that craving at the ripe old age of thirty-five. And then the traveling businesswoman who wants companionship as she moves from project to project… it’s quite amazing how people will open up. I find the glowing, gushing, doting, sharing, childlike side of us humans coming out brilliantly.
And it makes me wonder. How significant is the role they play in our existence as people and as a society? According the Bible, God created animals first. Then a day later He created human beings. It’s interesting to speculate. There’s never been a day without pets—not ever. We were created into a world that was filled with all these amazing animals. They were here first. They welcomed us to life way back when everything got started. I have to think God planned it this way. That God had them all lined up and ready to go. One of Adam’s first jobs was to name the animals—remember?
The more I’m around people seeking pets, the more sure I am that these beastly companions make a huge difference here on planet earth. I think it’s lovely, really. I think that in a country where old people are left alone to count out their last few years, and the average man doesn’t have a single guy he can call a close friend, these pets have smoothed around a lot of rough emotional edges. I also can’t help but think that their impact on our culture as a whole has been hugely underestimated.
Have you ever wondered what this world would be like without a single pet in it? Me neither.
Visit Life Notes
______________________________
Add your comment. |
|
