October 26, 2001 - a historic event happened on that
day. A border terrier was born! A very special border terrier who is loved
and very much a part of my family. His name is Digger - or, The Digster, Digs,
DiggerDoon, DiggerDog, DigDig - he's a fine dawg, indeed. His official name from the breeders is ‘Buckley
Star’ but yuk!!! We had to change his
name and struggled to do so. We finally settled on Digger, which is what his
breed are supposed to do (dig a lot) but which he didn't start doing until
about 2 years ago. He is now 12 years
old. I guess should have started these
monologues back in 2001; however, I still had dial-up internet, no real sense
of what blogging was (did we have blogs that far back?) and I had just
submitted my thesis and couldn't be bothered to do anything else but veg out,
take care of my dog, and my family.
So here I am 12 years later starting a blog about my beloved
Digs. I didn't really want a dog. I had enough to take care of with 2 children
and a husband and I sure didn't need an animal thrown in the mix. Besides, I grew up with cats (Pharaoh, Little
Kitty, Satan – yes my siblings and I were allowed to name our black Korat cat and
Satan is all we could muster. Outrageous,
I know.) and really didn't know the first thing about raising a dog. My kids
begged for a dog, with all the promises of helping take care of him, blah,
blah, blah. But guess who ended up taking
care of Digger?? Yes, of course – the mamma!!!
He became very much a mamma’s dogs and when he arrived in our home, I
spent the month of December in my kitchen with him, opening the back door when
he needed to ‘go toilet’ or cleaning up after him when he couldn't quite make
it outside. So the journey began, in
2001, with my dog in the kitchen.
Why am I writing this anyway? Those of you with a dog will understand the
immense pleasure a family pet brings to all involved and how you grow to love
that dog, who is, more often than not, easier to be around than those you
married or gave birth to. My dear
friend, Melanie, was a bit worried when I first got a dog. I swore I would never get a dog and sure didn't
want to take care of one. So when I got one, she was rightly concerned. Then
one day, when she came to visit, she saw me with Digger, cradled on his back in
my arms and I was stroking his stomach like you would a baby’s. She burst out laughing and told me she couldn't
believe how I was so ‘googoo-gaagaa’ over a dog. She, who is a great lover of our fine,
four-legged friends, said, ‘Welcome to the club!’ She never imagined that I would be a convert,
a dog lover, a pushover for Digger. Those of you without a dog may think “I could
care less about what this dog lover has to say about her dog, her family, her
faith, her life”, so feel free to follow or not. But I have found, over the
years, that my dog has taught me so much about what it means to be human, what
it means to be a child of God, what it means to love unconditionally, to be a
better parent, to be a better friend, to love me for who I am and not for what
others expect of me. I have come to
realize that if God can use get a donkey to speak to get Balaam’s attention (Numbers
22: 21-31 in the Old Testament), he could use Digger to get mine. I was going to entitle this blog ‘The Gospel
according to Digger’ but I think four gospels are plenty enough!
So what I have learned from Digger today? This, and every morning he eagerly awaits my
coming down the stairs to greet him, to pet him, to ‘love on him’ and to feed
him. He waits patiently while I wake up with my drug of choice (caffeine via a strong
cup of coffee) and then jumps up when I ask him if he wants to go for a
walk. He’s ready to wait patiently when
necessary, to come when needed, to seek me out when lonely, to allow me to love
on him when and how I can, to forgive when I accidentally step on him. I wish I could be more like my dog with my
fellow human beings.
The only problem with Digger is his breath. Despite all the teeth cleanings and chew toys,
he’s got ‘old dog breath’. That’s one
area in which I don’t want to be like him but who knows. I’m not as old as he is yet.
Love this!!
ReplyDelete