DOG DAYS OF SPRING
May 27, 2016
No! Noooo! No, No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Oh no no no no no no! Aye yi yi NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, NO, NO! Dadburn it puppy, NO!
Ahhhhhh, the sounds of frustration and exhaustion have returned to our home, mingled with bits of desperation and ughnatiousness. We’ve perpetrated puppyhood upon ourselves once again, but this time without any children around to help keep her entertained. The other day I found myself muttering the same words over this puppy that I whispered when we brought our third baby girl home from the hospital–“What have we done?” Thankfully, that third daughter turned out to be just as much a blessing as the first two, so I’m going with that frame of mind with our new puppy, Glory Halleloosie. I mean, we purposely drove three hours to pick up this little bloodhound, knowing full well that once she morphed out of the totally clueless puppy stage, she would be a full grown 100 pound (more or less) crazed mass of hair and slobber, who would be only somewhat less clueless. Take a look at this YouTube (https://youtu.be/3WUvF1ZGCyA).
I repeat, WE DID THIS ON PURPOSE after spending 12 1/2 years with our beloved Eujane!
Some would call us insane. I say sanity is for wimps! Who needs to enjoy life without stepping in three different puddles of puppy piddle within fifteen minutes? Not us! Who wants to add towels and rugs to the daily laundry? We do! Who doesn’t want the daily cacophony of whining, whimpering, howling and occasional barking at that annoying dog in the glass door reflection? Only those sane wimps out there. Most importantly, who wouldn’t want the love of a huge, messy, empathetically-eyed, sweet-natured creature every hour of every day for a decade or so? Only those who don’t know how great that can be, I suppose.
Right now we’re in the training stage and it reminds me of what God must go through with us. We have a nice sized fenced yard with all kinds of bushes and trees and grass for canine cantering and collapsing. Loosie could spend days on end out there with no need whatsoever to investigate the plantings along each side of the patio. But does this world of goodness satisfy her? NOOOOOOO! She continues to bed down smack dab in the middle of the new shoots sprouting beside the sunroom walls. We have to yell and thwack her nose over and over and over to make her move her blessed little puppy self out of there. She has the whole yard to choose from, but where does she continually return? The one place that is a No No! Does this sound familiar to anyone? She also enjoys chewing on everything that is forbidden, especially hands and feet, even though she gets a smack and “NO BITES!” every time she does it. Why is it so difficult to learn to quit sinning and enjoy all the millions of perfectly acceptable things there are to do in the big wide world?
It’s like there’s some kind of grand scheme at work, reminding us over and over that this world is a training ground for all of us to learn right from wrong, to choose ultimate joy over immediate pleasure, to listen to our Master and accept that He knows what’s best for us, what will keep us panting with happiness, instead of whimpering from head-thwacking. Hmmmm. Puppyhood is much more profound than I ever realized.
Here’s our current life lesson looking innocent as can be:
