Dogs with Purpose

A friend and I just returned from seeing the movie, "A Dog's Purpose."  It will not win any awards, and it was a sweet dog about the relationship dogs have with their owners.  Projecting human thought on the dogs, we seem them concerned about their owners and trying to intervene in whatever way possible to make the lives of their owners better.

As we walked to our bus, my friend shared her experience of the movie and then asked me about mine.  In my late-20s through my mid-30s, I had the most wonderful dog--a Golden Retriever and collie mix.  She was the most carrying dog I've ever been around.  She would literally sit for hours without moving with her head by mine when I was curled up on the sofa, suffering through an ugly divorce. We played together a lot, running, playing Frisbee, and hiking in the Oregon mountains.

The thing I found most remarkable about her was her relationships with children.  We had no children, but every afternoon and evening our front yard would be full--like 8 to 10--of children playing with the dog.  They loved her, and she loved them. One of the children was a 10- or 11-year old girl with Down's Syndrome.  Somehow the dog understood that she was different, and while the fairly large dog was happy to rough-house with the bigger boys, she was gentle as a lamb with the developmentally disabled girl.

Once I stopped by the house during the day, and the dog was gone.  I was in a total panic. I called for her, walked the neighborhood talking to neighbors who might have seen her, and driving up and down local streets.  I couldn't imagine losing her.  Finally, I found someone who said that he'd seen a dog that met my description walking with the children to school that morning.  I drove to an elementary school that was four or five blocks away.  I inquired if anyone had seen the dog.  The janitor reported that she followed the kids to school every day.  He put her in the boiler room and at the end of the day he'd let her out to follow them home.  Somehow she'd figured out how to escape our backyard with a six-foot fence to shepherd her brood to school.  Collies are sheep dogs; herding is what they do.

If dog's have purpose, Nicki certainly fulfilled more than one.  I still think of her often.

Last night just before I went to sleep lat night I watched a three-minute video on YouTube, called "Dear Captain."* The speaker in the clip is a Afghan War veteran who suffered from debilitating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD,) and he shares that he had contemplated suicide nearly every day after returning. That was until "Captain" came into his life.  Captain was named for the woman who, as his captain, supported him in getting treatment for PTSD.  The veteran credits Captain, a K9 for Warriors service dog, with saving his life.  (I highly recommend taking five minutes out of your day to watch it.)

Just as Nicki "saved my life" during a difficult period, we've probably all read or heard stories about a dog saving someone's life, walking across the country to be reunited with it's people, or in Captain's case helping her owner through PTSD.  They truly are in service to those of us who are blessed to have them in our lives.  I really believe that sometimes God brings an animal into our lives because that is what will heal us, and healing is a remarkable purpose.


*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up6Vg70RJnQ