They Are Only 'Dogs' When They Are Not With You

This morning, as we tamped into place the last bit of soil for the grave of our son's yellow lab, Bogey, it occurred to me that, 'A dog is only a dog when they are not with you.' Any other mutt running around the neighborhood is a 'dog', but when they are with you they are uniquely personable, nameable, even lovable. Maybe that is what makes them 'Best Friends' with so many people, when they are with you they are absolutely, devotedly with you.

Bogey came into Matt's life as a gift from his wife, Bethany. Maybe the gift was more for their daughter, Cailin, than it was for Matt, but Bogey quickly became Matt's companion. Named for a golf score which indicates 'a stroke over par', Bogey has always been a stroke over par in personality. Highly excitable, overly energetic, wildly lovable, always curious about the world, willing to chase into oblivion anything she saw including rabbits and butterflies, with something of a Greyhound's willingness to run in her blood, and a penchant to go through any fence or boundary to get where she wanted to go, Bogey captured the 'little boy's imagination' of our grown son and romped with him through many an adventure.

Not unlike our own black Labrador, Licorice, next to whose grave Bogey now lays, Bogey did not want anything to do with gun fire or thunder, all the while lighting off fireworks of her own with her antics to run with the wind and gnaw on anything she could find. Fiercely loyal and affectionate, Bogey would slobber you with kisses one second and have you pumping your fist at her as she bounded out of her kennel and down the street the next. Yet, that is all part and parcel of having a best friend: You love them unconditionally in spite of their shortcomings, sometimes because of them. That is what Bogey did for Matt . . . and that is what Matt did for Bogey. Such friendships are two way blessings.

Over the years of being a farmer, I have learned there are words you just do not want to hear come from a veterinarian's mouth, like cancer, mass, tumors, spleen, anemic, treatable but fatal, and, the dreaded phrase, 'It's your choice', and Matt heard all of those words concerning Bogey. Most often, when those words become part of a conversation about an animal, there is little choice. Tears become the only response which can be given and time will not quickly ease the dread which becomes caught somewhere between the heart and the throat. They spent her last hours together as a family, best friends caring for one another as Bogey's running in this world slowed, then stopped.

It is a father's humble honor to stand graveside with his son as the memories find their meaning in a time and place when words cannot be spoken. As much as I wish I could take this pain from him, I know it is the natural part of sharing the journey with another, the risk of opening your heart completely to a friend. The alternative is not nearly as desirable. So, I stood with him this morning and Nancy and I will continue to stand with them all in the days to come.

In our hearts, we know that Bogey is running joyfully healthy in a beautiful meadow chasing rabbits with Licorice and, in our hearts, this gives some comfort. But, truth be told this night, there is something about the mind's eye picture of a little boy sitting with his best friend on the steps of their home that will just take some time to heal in the soul of this young man, our son, for . . . they are only dogs when they are not with you . . . and Bogey will be with him for a long, long time.

Kind of makes me appreciate, all the more, God's love for us all.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Don