To Lose a Dog

How many dogs have you had in your life? Best I can recollect for me it's 11 since I was a little boy. And we just lost the latest. Her name was Lacy.

Now, as a pretty loosey-goosey Anglican, I have a religious theory about dogs. As Jesus is preparing to leave his followers at the ascension, he says this...

• John 14:26: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you" 

I have always taken that to mean this all-pervading spirit would be here to remind us of all that He taught. Kindness, love, forgiveness, devotion, all the things we strive to emulate. My theory is that the spirit here to provide that example is found in dogs. I know. My wife says it's crazy, too, but I can't think of a better representation of all that is good than a family dog.

We have had plenty over the years. I had a collie as a kid who was simply the best dog ever, particularly if you are growing up when Lassie was a Sunday night staple on TV. My wife's favorite dog growing up was a Border Collie named, of all things for a Mississippi girl, Herschel.

I had a loving and delightful beagle named Katy, after Maureen O'Hara's character in The Quiet Man. Beagles are the best illustration of what we would describe as a "hangdog look."

Our daughter Mary Brigid grew up around dogs, particularly when we lived in the country. A little cocker mix named Toots, an infectiously charming poodle mix named Bob (for a friend who was charming and also needed neutering), and a wonderful, goofy galoot named Edwina, or Ed, after Holly Hunter's character in Raising Arizona.

And Mary's endless delight at overfeeding them with Milk Bones...

And then there was Lacy. A woman I worked with in TV, named Lacy, had a litter of pups she was trying to give away. They were Catahoula pups, a Louisiana breed we had come to love before. I volunteered and drove Mary B out to their house in the country. MB picked out the shyest one in the bunch, and on the way home, I asked what she wanted to name her.

"Lacy."

I told her that was the name of the lady we just met, but she insisted on the name, so Lacy it was.

So, why am I taking you on a tedious trip down memory lane? Because our time with our dogs is sadly short. Bob fell prey to some a-holes who were bowhunting on the property next to ours. He hated guns but would have walked right up to a guy with a bow, grinning and wagging his tail. We presumed, and my wife confronted them, that they found him annoying and that was that. I have hated bowhunters, probably unfairly, ever since.

Toots got very old and feeble, and one day she walked down the driveway of our country place, and never came back. Similarly, the lovable Edwina, grown very elderly, walked into the woods, covered herself in leaves, and lay down by a creek to let nature take her course. We found her, took her back home, fed her a big steak and the next day took her to the vet to help her on her journey.

We found Lacy a buddy at the Humane Society who already had the name Bullet, ironically the name of my first dog, being a Roy Rogers fan. Bullet finally passed overnight one night. Lacy just got older and later suffered from what is called "canine dementia." She paced endlessly, could not stand still or lie down for any length of time. She seemed confused and age had made her pretty much deaf and limited her eyesight.

This week we put her out in the back deck of our property, as we always did, to take a bit of a whee, as my Irish forebears would say. She always came back to the back door, let out a bark and we'd let her in.

This time she didn't.

We live on a couple of acres and have searched high and low, but after the week passed, and since she didn't have her multiple meds, we assumed the worst. That's 3 of our dogs who wandered off to be alone near the end.

The loss of a beloved dog is the next worst thing to losing a family member, because that's what they are. I know that more than likely most of you have felt this at one time or another. There is a meme that floats around Facebook that is also very true. We only have them for a short time, but for them, we are their whole lives.

And while they are here, they are an example of the kind of people we should be. Loving, devoted, and forgiving us immediately when we get angry, wanting nothing more than a meal, a snuggle and a lot of petting.

Holy spirits indeed.