Thank God For Dogs
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” – James 1:17
While I know most people who’ve lived a few years tend to refer to their lives in decades, I tend to organize mine in “dogcades.” I’ve always relied on companionship from “man’s best friend” and thanks be to God for supplying that companionship!
As a young child I grew up on a small farm and Lassie was our dog who lived in the barn and followed us all around as we played outside in the forest, creek and fields. She was a gentle Shetland sheep dog and like the iconic “Lassie” she watched over my little sister and me as we played with the goats and built dams in the creek.
When I was ten I got my first Golden Retriever puppy. Dee-O-Gee (I didn’t make that up, the lady we got him from had named his father that and because we loved the father dog we used the name) became my 4-H project. I learned how to obedience train a dog and I worked diligently with Dee-O-Gee in all my spare time. He was my confidant. My best friend and collector of my tears. It was Dee-O-Gee I poured out my troubles to in the barn. I had to leave him during the school year to attend years 1-3 of college but when I was a senior and got an apartment, Dee-O-Gee finally came with me. A year later he got married with me and moved to Michigan. A year after that he moved to our first house with us. Dee-O-Gee was my best friend and won the heart of my husband, too until he was 15 and I was 25. When Dee-O-Gee finally finished his time on Earth, I did not think I could go on without him. I vowed I would never have another dog as my young self was positive that would be the way to avoid the terrible heart ache I felt when I lost him.
Three months later, one of my kindergarten students got a Golden puppy and I knew I had to have one after holding hers.
This began the age of Semper Fi. No I wasn’t a Marine as many people asked, just sentimental and still missing Dee-O-Gee when I named my new baby. He came on Palm Sunday. We had to miss one of my favorite Sundays in church to go get him. We had Semper Fi for just one year — a beautiful year of puppy-hood — before the human babies began coming. Semper Fi adapted and welcomed Christopher, then Claire and finally Curt. We did everything together and Semper was mine and my children’s best friend and then it happened again. The end of an era and my broken-hearted kids had to be shown (and so did I) that life goes on.
Twelve days later we welcomed baby Aurora. Aurora followed my kids through the woods and went crazy when they learned to water ski—just convinced they were in trouble out there in the water away from the boat. And as they grew into teens and tested the waters, Aurora absorbed my tears and heard my fears. While God was in my heart and on my mind and directing my steps, Aurora was the soft and gentle companion provided by the Father to walk (figuratively and literally) some lonely and hard paths alongside me. We ran 5 miles each morning in the dark until one morning she could not and I discovered she had lung cancer. It was 2020 and I cried out to God please don’t take her away from me now Lord. But the Lord works in mysterious ways. In some of the longest months of my life, we were dog-less as we waited for a relative of Aurora’s to be bred. We had the hope of a puppy, but who knew when. After four long months another puppy became available. Two Goldens? I’d never had two dogs at once!
How would they both fit in my Kayak like Aurora had? How would TWO dogs run alongside me on my early morning runs? I realized this was God’s double restoration... his “double portion” and I began this new dogcade of life with Iris in April and Belle coming in June. Two tiny sharks chewing up everything in sight. Two puppies to house train. Two babies for the children (all home from college or confined from high school by COVID) and me to love. And they both creatively fit in the kayak and they both run alongside for the early morning runs.
I don’t know how to thank God enough for teaching me to love his creation of the dog and for sending each precious furry life to accompany me on this journey to do God’s work here on Earth. Each “dogcade” has been precious and unique.
Prayer: Dear God, You know what is best for us. Each loving companion you have sent to walk alongside me in life is proof of that. Make us grateful for your beautiful and perfect gifts, Lord. Amen
Sandy Cameron
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