Who's a Good Boy?
A rescue dog's promise
I promise to be a good boy.
• to never take a piece of buttered toast off of the table … unless I think nobody else wants it,
• to stay off your bed … except for sometimes,
• to not lick up the cat’s food bowl … when you are looking,
• to always come when you call me … even at the beach.
I promise...
• to not dig up your geraniums … unless I need to catch a gopher,
• to never beg for people-food … except maybe once in a while,
• to stop barking at the postman … because now he brings me treats,
• to fetch the old tennis ball over and over … and over and over.
I promise...
• to be gentle with babies … even if they step on my feet and climb all over me,
• to growl only when it’s necessary to protect you … from smaller dogs,
• to never tip over the kitchen garbage can … unless you leave me alone for the entire day and I get bored,
• to eat any kind of food you want to give me … any time, guaranteed
I promise...
• to not bark when you leave me home alone … except it’s hard when I’m afraid that you’re never, ever coming back,
• to not jump up on visitors and lick them … unless they look very glad to see me,
• to willingly take a bath … if I think I need one,
• to stop shedding all over the car seat … though I am not sure how to do that.
I promise...
Whether you are young or old, man or woman, gay or straight, fat or thin, Muslim or Christian, I will be loyal to you.
Whether you are beautiful or homely, black or white, rich or poor, sick or healthy, republican or democrat, I will love you unconditionally.
Because I am a good boy, and if you are kind to me, that is all that matters.
My Dougie dog makes those promises and she wants to mean well when she makes them, but it’s not her fault that we left a loaf of fresh baked bread on the counter within reach. That was simply a case of entrapment. And what would I do if the bread smelled a hundred thousand times more intense because one of my super powers is my sense of smell? And that fresh donut on the car seat? How was Dougie to know it was for my old guy and not trash she saved me the trouble of throwing away, including the paper wrapper?
I believe God created people to build fences for meadowlarks to stand on when they sing and fireplaces for dogs to sleep beside when it’s cold outside. That’s our primary purpose; everything else is just fluff.
Rescues are God's chosen creatures. I lived with four of them--two doggies, and two kitties-- for eight years until I was jettisoned by my conspiring "family." Bear and Charlie (the doggies) and Puff and Mandy (the kitties) were my daily best and most loving buddies in a "home" that was surreptitiously becoming unwelcoming and, sadly, toxic. They snoozed next to, or on, me innumerable times and EVERY time it was obvious they were literally "reading" my thoughts and emotions. I am heart broken that they were taken away from me by heartless humans... and I'm trying to get news about them by circuitous and desperate efforts. I am not ashamed to say I CARE MORE ABOUT THEM than all of three of my estranged members of my ex-family. I pray daily for all my four dearest buddies to be well and their usual delightful shelves... and perhaps the Good Lord might give me a (remote) chance to see them again before anyone of us FIVE expires... I pray.