Puppy Love
News came to us out in New Hampshire that our little spitfire Cocker Poodle Schnauzer had to be put away. Tiki lived with us for seventeen-and-a-half years. Quite a life span if figured in human years! We cried both here and at home in Ohio for the loss of this very real member of our family.
Some regrets colored my grief. When she was a pup, frisky and impetuous, I wasn’t always nice to her. Impatient was more like it, especially when she did what any decent canine would do to relieve herself — except she kept doing it in the wrong places. As a dutiful master, I would try to discipline her into the high art of proper toiletry. Sometimes the tutelage was over-zealous. Then she would look at me and say with her eyes, “Just understand me. I’m trying as hard as I can.”
This soulful plea for grace drew me more and more to her. Then I began to realize an unwitting reversal of roles — she was teaching me. Though I had not read the Sermon on the Mount to her (I admit reading some other choice writing), she was practicing it. If anyone knew how to turn the other cheek, it was Tiki. She would come to me with a bit of intrepidation, but always with her tail wagging. That tail spoke forgiveness. Canines are now often brought to hospitals to promote the healing of little children. Though the church’s seven means of grace do not include the love of an Airdale or Schnauzer, in my way of thinking it would be one of the top ten.
Saying that a dog is man’s or woman’s best friend may be overstating it; but, if friendship means “being there” for you and accepting you whether you have been celebrated or maligned, promoted or canned, then our furry friend’s friendshi comes close to being like God's. A child once said that ¢ friend is one who knows all about you and loves you just the same. That’s Tiki to a T!