It was a Sunday afternoon in the summer of 2017. We came home from church that afternoon and found her. My heart shattered into a million pieces. She had been my guard, my friend, my secret keeper. She laid by my side when I was sick and comforted me in my grief.
I remember how tiny she was when we first brought her home. We made her a bed in a cardboard box and she cried all night long. The second night she somehow managed to escape and I woke up with her sitting next to my bed howling. She slept with me every night after that for 4 years, then she started sleeping with my daughter.
She hated cold weather and loved to lay in the sunshine. At times she drove me crazy, but I loved that dog with all my heart. She was twenty-five days shy of her 13th birthday when she passed, but she loved us more in her 13 years than most humans can love in a lifetime. Right after she passed away I discovered this story. I touched my heart because it described my Dixie perfectly.
Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolf hound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.
I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.
As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.
The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.
The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's Death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, 'I know why.'Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation.
He said, 'People are born so that they can learn how to live a good Life - - like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?' The Six-year-old continued, 'Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long.'
I don't know if all dogs go to heaven, but Pastor Billy Graham once said, ""I think God will have prepared everything for our perfect happiness. If it takes my dog being there (in Heaven), I believe he'll be there."I pray every day that God will let my Dixie be there in heaven to meet me when I cross over.
"That's my 'two-cents worth', what's yours?"
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