The Company You Keep

Mom always warned me about hanging around with the wrong crowd.  I could understand about those junkyard dogs - they played too rough and didn't take anybody's feelings into consideration. You know the sort of just ambush and attack type of personality. And of course then there are those stuck up conformation dogs.  They think they are better than every body else but put them in with the rest of us everyday Spots and Rosies and they pace back and forth never interacting with another dog.  Some of them just sit int the corner. I tried being friendly with a big Champion Great Dane once until he smacked me down with his big paw. I know enough to keep my distance from them.

But my sister, Ruach? Who ever thought she would lead me astray. She's a Service Dog, an Obedience Champion. Why would she lead me down the dark path of - (shudder) stealing boxes of treats in the middle of the night. Oh but she was poetry in motion. The box of milkbones had been sitting on the counter for a week. Aunt Barbara had brought them for us. Ru doesn't go after something right away - that way she lulls mom into forgetting to do something about it (like putting it away). She quietly placed her paws on the counter and grabbed the box in her strong jaws and carried it outside through the dog doors to the backyard.

I danced around Ruach as she held the treasure in her mouth. How would she get into the box? It hadn't been opened yet. I asked if I should get Cherokee because she is really good at getting into things but Ruach shrugged it off. "Nah, Got it covered." She took one paw and tipped up the box and with her teeth ripped the front of the box off and all the bones came tumbling out.  Ruach is just so amazing. I bowed and bounced hoping she would share some of the treasures she had loosed from its prison and glory hallelujah! she shared with me.

Then all of a sudden the light went on inside. Oh no. Mom was up. We went running inside and jumped on the bed but mom knew something was up. Our tails sort of gave us away and Ru wasn't snarling at me to get off the bed the way she usually does. (Should of thought about that.) Mom knew something was up, kept asking what we were up to. Went and checked the garage (thank goodness Ru had enough sense to take the box out to the backyard). Told us "I don't know what you two have done but I'm sure I'll find something outside in the morning."

We stayed in bed until mom fell asleep and then slipped back outside to finish off the bones. Mom found the box in the morning and turned to us and said she expected something like this out of Ru but me, never me. I was letting my older sister influence me to go over to the dark side and would end up in the big black cage like Ruach but then she smiled and said "but for once it looked like the two of you were working together."

We are influenced by the company we keep. Have you ever noticed that a gray day can be changed by talking to someone who feels blessed in their lives even when everything isn't going well. Things are rough out in the human world and it is real easy to just fold in on oneself and go hide in a hole. And if we hang around with people who are critical, without any suggestions for improving the situation or who can't even see the joy in a baby's smile, a kitten's purr or a dog's tail wag then it is real easy to dig that hole deeper and deeper. So every now and then, even though your life may seem to be on a treadmill going nowhere or even worse a spiral going down, jump off and hang out with some people who think their life is blessed even just because they're on the green side of the grave.

There are a lot of things to complain about in life. Dogs stealing treats in the middle of the night could be one of them. But all I could do was laugh as I saw the two of them wagging their tails trying to say with their bodies, "Who us, we didn't do anything. Just go back to sleep. We're here to protect you."

So if things start looking too dark in your life, take a look at the company you're keeping and until then we'll see you around the kennel and remember try to keep all four paws on the ground.

It's Rough Being a German Shepherd

People see Arkeo and the first thing they think is "police dog" "guard dog" must be vicious, must be dangerous. We walk through the dog show in Denver and other handlers, with their fluffy dogs whether large or small, take one look at us (with Arkeo walking perfectly at my side), and pull their dogs away standing between them and us with a look on their face of that Arkeo is going to eat their precious darling. All because she is a German Shepherd. Meanwhile, all Arkeo is thinking of is finding a tennis ball or a little kid who will pet her or maybe a nice juicy bone to gnaw on. But this is not what people's perception is and so Arkeo gets branded and ostracized and if she ever got loose, in some communities might be considered to be a dangerous breed if the cops picked her up. It is really rough being a German Shepherd sometimes.

But you know, we do the same thing to people and people do the same thing to us. I was labeled as being "a danger to self and others" because of a misinterpreted voice mail."  (The Rhuemotology dept is still apologizing for that one.) But the one that gnawing on me right now is the fact that people feel they have the right to assume what is in my mind and on my heart just because I have the title Rev. in front of my name.  "I guess it's hard to refrain from acting like a minister." was the comment, and all I said was "amen" in agreement with someone's statement and was accused of "spreading religion" and that I might offend someone. Guilty of association by prefix. Not even pointing out that the definition of the word means to agree by assent and is used in most educated British circles could take their suspicions and branding of me away.

I don't know what to do about closed minded people whether they are closed minded toward my dog or toward me. In a sense it's like trying to climb over a wall that keeps getting taller because if they find this small thing to stick on you, you know they will find something else and the wall will just keep getting taller. It also makes this particular group of people who called me on this word not a safe place me. Because I will not know whether or not something else in my conversation will be objectionable to someone.  It's like traveling with Arkeo and her acting with perfect good manners but someone having had a "bad experience" with a German Shepherd having decided they are all vicious dogs. Its like walking on eggshells and a bit frightening.

So Arkeo and I will go where we are welcomed as ourselves without presumptions or assumptions. And we will try our hardest not to make those judgement about others. (Though I can't guarentee Arkeo makes the same promise about the squirrels in the backyard.)

Until later - see you around the kennel and keep all four paws on the ground.

What's Mine Is Mine and What's Your's.....

As you can tell by the picture, Arkeo got lots of her favorite things from Santa - balls - all sorts of balls. Red ones and yellow ones - ones that sqeek - little ones and ones that can be used in the chuck-it. While the other two dogs chewed away on their bones, Arkeo gathered up all of the balls and just reveled in them.

It wasn't too long after that picture was taken, however, that Ruach came by, took a look over all the balls and just simply picked one up without so much as a by your leave.  You see Ruach believes what mine is mine and what's yours is mine. And Arkeo just takes it. I get on Ru to leave her little sister alone and to be nice to her little sister - but she takes the toy or the bone anyway and then grumbles at Arkeo if she gets too close. Arkeo gives me this look like - it's okay. There's more where that comes from. I'll just sneak it away when she goes outside. So far Arkeo has never argued over anything.  She seems to enjoy things when she has them but she's not going to make a fush over them - they're not important enough to draw blood over - especially with her big sister.

Wouldn't it be nice if things and possessions had so little meaning in our lives.  I mean, we could enjoy them while we have them. Be thankful when someone gives us something. It's always joyous to see to see the girls dance around when I have a treat or bone or toy to give them. They are so excited and happy. But as with the balls, if I take them away or one of them takes it from the other they find something else to occupy themselves. We humans on the other hands, get into fights and wars and lawsuits most of the time just over things.

We have just passed the Christmas season where a lot is made out of giving and receiving. I'm going to try to have more of an attitude like Arkeo has when it comes to things and possessions. If someone else needs it more than I do, I will give it up willingly know that my Creator will supply the things I need. It's really bad when I'm needing to grow my generousity to match my dog's.

It's time to start up training for the dog shows and maybe even start herding lessons so I'm sure there will be plenty of lessons to learn in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, we'll try to keep all four paws on the ground.

But mom!!!! I'm hungry!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just before Arkeo's surgery we had lowered her Prednisone to 10 mg and her appetite had decreased and she lost 3 pounds. So after surgery, Doc Jen put it back up to 20 mg for a few weeks and said when we lower it we won't make such a big jump down to 10mg - maybe go half way to 15 mg because Arkeo "is such a sensitive girl." Yeah right. So now I have a raving hungry adolescent on my hands. She is eating me out of house and home. If you have ever lived with an adolescent male you will know what I mean. We use to say about my little brother that he only ate one meal all day long.

When Arkeo is hungry she comes to see me and boy is she vocal about it. And it doesn't matter what time of day or night.  "I'm hungry mom. Feed me!!!" Now.

We are an instant society. Even our animals have benefited. They no longer have to go out and catch their food. Neither do we. We buy ours in little packets ready to eat in 5 minutes or less. Wait in a line? If there are more than two or three people in front of us we start counting the number of items they have in their carts.Can't wait for regular mail? Just overnight everything.

But not all things come in an instant. It still takes 63 days to grow a puppy and 9 months to develop a human child. But we get impatient in our relations with others or when we're training our dogs if people don't know us immediately ("well he should have known I didn't like that color") or if our dogs don't work like little robots and catch on to a new command or trick immediately ("I know they are just being stubborn. She could do it if she wanted to!)

I wonder how often God has said that about us? How often did Israel go back to worshipping false gods yet God never said, "You're not doing this fast enough. Haven't you learned this lesson yet?" "I'll go find me another people." Yet many dogs are returned to the shelter because they haven't learned fast enough. Aren't we lucky that our God has a better track record as a trainer than most humans do.

So eventual Arkeo will learn to eat at "normal" times but I guess God has spoiled me in this case. Everytime I turn to God for a word of encouragement or some nurture or feeding - in some way or another, God has provided that for me - through a friend, a word of Scripture, some music, sometimes even a stranger - but always the spiritual food has been there.  So I guess I can do no less for my furry kid. As long as I hear that cry for food - I will try to be as faithful as my Provider and provide.

Speaking of which - a certain German Shepherd is calling. So until later take care and keep all four paws on the ground.

Patience and Commitment or Was that a Squirrell?????

I wish that people I knew had the same patience and commitment that Arkeo has. She is getting along quite well after her surgery but is chafing at the bit to go out on squirrel patrol. She patiently sits at the back door waiting and watching during daylight hours, conserving her strength when its dark, knowing she can't see all the way to the back fence. But in her mind she hears the scampering of little paws running across the tops of the fence and she waits.

Many a morning Arkeo would spend hours sitting at the fence just waiting. Committed to "protect the yard" against those bushy-tailed little devils. She sits and she waits. Rain or shine. Watching. Eyes traveling back and forth. Always prepared. Ready to jump and run.

What are we as committed about or to? Family, church, work, God? For those of us who have dogs - how often do we train them? Heard a statistic last night that church members attend worship services 1.8 weeks out of the month. When I was in the military we figured that the average airman worked 68% of the workday. We start out strong, but there isn't a lot we are passionate about these days. Someone jokingly (or not so jokingly) said about the airline security, most of us are not the type to strap bombs on ourselves and I thought that in a way that it is sad, not to have something in our life that we are willing to wait for, be committed to be there 4 times out of 4 times for.  Just think how exciting life would be.

So I challenge you to go out and find your own personal squirrel patrol. Wait for it and be committed to it and then run after it for all you are worth.

And in the mean time - let's keep all four paws on the ground.

Begin Again

It's been a while since we have posted. Life has been a bit of a rollar coaster as Arkeo battled to find a natural balance in her body that would accept the nutrients that she tried to eat.  It is hard to believe that good food can be so harmful to a creature's body. It was a puzzle as we took blood tests and ultrasounds and finally found the right doctor who took Arkeo and I under her wing and found that Arkeo was allergic to a variety of foods and had Irritable Bowel Disease. By that time, she was down to 49 pounds. The prayer requests went up to keep this precious creature of God and my guardian angel well and on some road to health and recovery.

Well it turns out the darling needs to be on a diet of bison, elk or venison. I wanted her on a natural diet. Other vets had tried to put her on a crappy diet that had no substance to it and Dr. M agreed to let me have her on a natural diet even though she wouldn't let her be on a raw diet yet. So I cook for my dog and have frozen dinners for myself. Ah the things we do for our kids - what we do for love.

Well the upshot is that Arkeo has gained 15 pounds. Looks like a German Shepherd instead of an Eithopian Stick Dog.  We've got some some retraining to do because now that she feels better she has the mind and emotions of a 9 month old puppy which was when she got sick and marshalled all her bodily resources to stay alive.  So I have a 9 month old puppy in a 19 month old body. We have some re-training to do. But I'm sure all will be accomplished in God's time.  We may have to try things in new ways but that will be the adventure of it all.  In the meantime, we'll try to keep all four paws on the floor.

Time to praise the Lord

It's been a long, long week. First we go and visit this man that has very gentle hands and he pets me and stretches out my legs and then WHAM he moves my back or my neck and I feel a pop or a snap and it's like "what just happened here?" I turn around real quick to see who got me and there is this real kind and gentle man just smiling at me. Mom says he's suppose to be making my back feel better and you know, I guess in the long run he does, but boy its quite an experience.

And then when mom laid down on his table - well I just didn't trust that so I went and sat right close to her head and stuck my nose in her ear to let her know that I was there just in case he tried anything funny with her. But she seem to know what was coming and didn't seem to mind all the snapping and cracking. I wish someone had warned me. I'll be watching out for this guy next time.

Then came the snow and it was so much fun and we got to have fishheads to eat and snow to run and roll in. Too bad mom has to shovel it.

We've been learning all sorts of new things. We know how to make a circle around mom to keep people away so they won't knock her over. Mom's been teaching us in different ways that makes us need to think more often. It's good to make us think - otherwise we have a tendancy to get lazy and take things for granted.

But because of the snow we didn't get to go to church on Wednesday. That was a bummer. We like going being with our church family and though we don't always understand what Pastor Patti has to say she seems to make other people happy. We like it best whem mom and I get to play guitar and help people howl along.

That's why tomorrow is important. Once a week we get all spiffied up and go to church and listen to lots of words and get up and sit down and sometimes give people something to eat. But the most important thing we do is make people smile - especially the kids. People bend over and ask to pet us and the kids come up and wrap their arms around us and tickle our tummy (which feels so good) but all the while they are smiling and that's the important thing because then they are thinking about good things and thinking about the One who made those good things and thanking God for those good things even if its just the wag of a puppy's tail and the slurp of a puppy's tongue.

So I get sleep while I can while everybody else is yakking and listening cause when we're on the move - then it's my time to work and it's time to praise the Lord. See you around the kennel.