A Human and Dog Friendship

A great lecture at: http://tastethewind.blogspot.com/2010/12/major-problems-for-mankind.html

52 Stories in 52 Weeks: ## 42 * A Human and Dog Friendship: (Based On A True Story)

This story is a Human and Dog tale that takes place between countless humans and dogs.


By: Mr. George D. Patnoe., Jr.'s Ambidextrous Brain + Spiritual Mind


Human was in a painfully decisive moment of her life, but she would learn a very important life lesson. Many people find many strange moments in their lives, at one time or another. Those agonizing moments when a person has to make an unavoidable decision, or having a loved one suffer for the reminder of their lives. She was about to learn that the hardest decisions might be the most painful; but there is an old quote, "Whatever does not kill you, will only make you stronger."

Long ago, Human had studied at an upstate college. It was an easy decision for Human because she wanted to learn about money and business as fast as possible. She wanted to learn about business and the money world as far as any business course or teacher could teach her. All the while, she lived in a CEO’s house as a babysitter to the house and its two oversized dogs. When the owners were away, traveling as CEOs and their families sometimes do, Human would have to feed the dogs their dog food and take them for a walk in under New York’s ever changing skies.

The two huge dogs gave Human’s arms as great workout as the dogs were always pulling to the right and to the left; so they could sniff for the smells on the New York’s four seasonal ground. With each pull by the two dogs, Human would wondered what they were so excited about as they searched and searched for new scents.

When Human graduated from the Upstate New York college, she was prepared to seek her financial fortunes as many college students do; so she decided to move to the big city of New York, to New York City. With some basic book knowledge of business and the money world, she was ready to explore the business world away from parents and family and highschool teachers and college professors. She could smell the money in New York City’s manhattan’s financial distract, so it was off to the big city to try her luck at making money. If other people could make money, so could she, she once thought to herself. Even before she left college, she could smell the need to make lots of money. She wanted to start a family one day, and money seemed like a needed commodity for her family’s needs and wants; because she always knew that she wanted the best for her children.

New York City seemed to be calling her name, just as it does to so many dreamers of money; so it was off to the Big Apple she went. New York City is only six to seven hours away from her upstate hometown, so it was very easy to hop into her car and drive on upstate’s country and roads highways, with the tall trees on either side of the road to remind her of Upstate New York. Soon enough, the tallest of trees would be replaced with the tallest of skyscrapers in New York City. The dreamy highways led directly to New York City’s tall buildings, which made the richest of humans look like tiny little bugs, if viewed from the top of any building. But the big stock and bond brokerage firms are different because no matter how tiny a human may seem from the tallest building, a million bucks is still a million bucks. Money is still money.

Nevertheless, in the world of business and money, there are few moments for self-reflection or even reflecting on life’s important lessons, or even realizing life’s true treasures. It can be safely stated that most people do not even ponder their lives or even life’s big questions until those important issues are thrown at them in one form or another. Human and many others were learning about the markets ups and downs, and how to survive in the big city, with its rush here and rush there mentality. Yellow taxis rushing, people rushing, the subways rushing, bikers rushing, the world of money rushing around the globe in seconds; money rushing in and out of people’s pockets even faster.

Human decided to become a stockbroker at a safe American financial institution. After applying, she was quickly accepted into the world of money and high finance. Human’s first boss had a special assignment for Human. As she was studying for the big Series 7 Exam, (General Securities Representative Exam, NASD) she would have to learn many of the supporting jobs of the office. Jobs such as how to answer phones; how to talk to business men who never joked about anything; how to fix the copy machine; how to take buy and sell orders from the long ago established brokers; how to make an endless amount of cold calls to build up a client base, how to take no for an answer; how to get the morning coffee and donuts for a boss whose only goal was to make as much money in one day as was humanly possible. It mattered not what the surrounding details were that filled the atmosphere, it was all about living in the world of greed for more money. Money, money, money!

Learning about money was easy for Human, ever since she had walked into the big brokerage firm. It was fun too. Everyone had only one goal on their minds, making money in one form or another. After a few months of studying and preparing for the day long Series 7 Exam, she was ready to take the seven hour long exam to prove that she knew what the stock market is, what stocks and bonds are, how to calculate the numbers, what the laws are, and more. With each and every question, she needed to decide on the proper answer to pass the test. She pasted that test and then she had to take the Series 65 Exam, but that was only a couple of hours, if that long of a test. After becoming a licensed stockbroker, there were decisions to make everyday and every minute, and sometimes in seconds. Researching a stock; and buying or selling a stock. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Sometimes those decisions were made for Human, while at other times, she had to make them. The stock market seemed to be a universe of decisions, yet each individual earthly life is a universe of decisions too.

For years, Human was happy in the stockbroker business, but she grew bored of the everyday life of office politics and greed for money in a man’s world, so it was time for a change. There was no love in the real of money, just love of money, and Human’s heart was somewhere else. Human decided to move away from the Big Apple. It was off to law school she went. She decided she needed a change of boring men who cared little for some of life’s simple pleasures, so she drove on the countryside highways once again, away from the New York City to Ohio; to Ohio State University. It just so happen, her college sweetheart Jerry was studying at Ohio State University too. A real life family of love would soon be a family was in the making.

Her first day on campus was wild. Instead of men and ladies in dark business suits, there were thousands of college aged students wearing whatever they felt like wearing. Stepping back into time, Human started studying law. Her goal was probate law and financial law for estates. Away from New York’s brokerage houses, she began to feel as if she was on a vacation, until her first day in law school. The only person wearing a dark business suit was the lawyer / professor, who was all business about law. The study of law seemed to be more important than the study money; since without laws of the land, the realm of money would be in total chaos. So Human began reading and studying the law books as all law students do; by reading case after case of legal decisions, past tests and writing papers and answering questions and learning how to think like a lawyer.

After law school, and passing the Bar Exam, Human and her college sweetheart returned to their upstate college town to get married and to start to start a family. There were so many decisions to make: which wedding dress to wear, who to invite to the wedding, where to hold the wedding, which house to purchase, which new family car and van to purchase, what to name the new babies that would soon be arriving. But first, what to name the two dogs that were the cutest little puppies Human had ever seen. Puppies are not allowed on Wall Street, but they are always welcomed in a family of love.

Thinking that a couple of pet dogs would be a nice way to start her family, Human had found two tiny puppies who needed a good home. They introduced themselves by sniffing at Human’s hands. Human looked in her husband’s eyes and her husband could not help but smile at her. Into a box they went and Human brought them home. As any caring mother would care for her little ‘babies,’ Human started the natural care giving and attention that all real mothers of either sex give to their children. The two puppies needed food and clean water every day, a bath when needed, a backyard to play in, rubber balls and bones and other dog goodies too, along with the best medical care that money could buy. She named them Baxter and Graci, two modern day dogs.

The tiny Baxter and Graci grew bigger and stronger with each meal that Human feed them and with each step of that daily walk that Human provided for them. Baxter and Graci just loved the moment when they were picked up and bought to their new home, a two story house with plenty of rooms to explore; with plenty of sounds and smells and looking and searching and resting too.

Everyday, Baxter but especially Graci would wake up to sneak a few licks on Human’s sleeping face, just to remind her that she was their mommy, even if she was a human mommy. When their human mommy stepped out of bed, they all knew that the day would be fulled with fun and excitement in each and every room of the house; and even a possible car ride too. As everyone hopped out of the huge bed, Baxter and Graci followed Human as they walked from one room to another. They would smell each room in a way that their human mommy could never imagine. Each room and car ride to another house brought new and different smells; some would state the smells of life itself.

The bedroom was the first room, and then possibly the bathroom, but then the greatest of all smelly rooms was the long awaited kitchen. Their tiny doggie footsteps would waggle along until they reached the living room and then the kitchen. Wow, was that fun. The boring clean morning air being awaken by the aroma of the coffee brewing, buttered toast, and the butter and eggs in the frying pan, and of course the television was turned on and a radio with the morning news and music playing. Nothing could compare to the morning kitchen, unless it was the evening or holiday kitchen. Baxter and Graci soon learned about Thanksgiving and its special kitchen smells. Talk about dog heaven! Of course, Baxter and Graci would get their share of meat and foodstuff.

In no short order, two new smells entered the house. Baxter and Graci looked at the two babies with a different kind of wonderment, and a few licks too. Baxter and Graci also learned the babies new names, Olivia and Domanic. After a months of the milk bottle, Human was feeding Olivia and Domanic the best baby food money could buy. Soon enough, as all babies do, they grew bigger and stronger. Soon enough, Human was taking the Olivia and Domanic and Baxter and Graci for daily walks around their city blocks, during all four seasons of the year. The springtime with its new life, the summertime with its heat, the autumn with its changing tree colors and cool air, the wintertime with its white snow and freezing ice.

Everyone grew older together, as some families do. Hundreds of thousands of moments of eating together, watching television together, driving around to visit relatives together, even playing in the snow together. With no thought about the future, everyday was a blessing; almost like a dream of peace and harmony. Human and her family were really lucky to be together, as a loving family. But just as the change of seasons, arrives changes in life, for all animals on planet earth.

After thirteen years of being alive, Baxter and Graci were not puppies anymore. Human had brought Baxter and Graci to their veterinarian for their yearly checkup. Human, Domanica and Olivia sat in the waiting room, silently waiting for the veterinarian to return with their two family members. When he did return, his eyes and soft voice said it all. Medical words abound with reasons for the final needle that awaited Baxter and Graci, but it was not to happen that day.

Human realized that Baxter and Graci were getting older, but time had passed by so fast. How could it be that Baxter and Graci would not live forever. But Human looked into their eyes, only to see what Baxter and Graci already knew too, that their years, if not their months, were numbered. The smell of sadness began to fill Human’s motherly soul. Her husband knew it too, but how would they explain the situation to children, Domanic and Olivia? How to deal with the age old question of death?

Baxter and Graci felt their bodies ailing too. They also knew that they were not puppies anymore, even if their puppy spirit would live forever in this universe or the next one. Those human puppy days were long gone. As their memories were thinking about the past, they wished that they could thank Human and her husband Dominica and Olivia for the past thirteen years of a good life. But they could not speak English, but they could understand that their earthly lives were coming to a final end. They were wishing that their bodies were not ailing, but they also knew that they did feel the urge to rest, for a long time. They began to hear the sound of angels.

It has been stated that dog’s nose can smell a thousand times more than a human’s nose, so what about smelling the smells of a life after life. Is it possible that dogs and other creatures know something about the afterlife long before they leave planet earth? After all, even though humans see a physical dog, the Infinite Mind or Intelligence called God only sees the spiritual image and deathless nature of all living creatures, even if they only seem to be dogs or animals.

Somehow, in some way, angels must carry our loving pets over from this life to the next life, even if humans see it not!

As the days wore on, Human’s job lingered on, as a probate lawyer, meeting clients to prepare their legal papers such as wills and other probate legal and financial papers for her clients who were also preparing for their last human breath. After so many years of filling out legal paperwork for clients, the task of preparing the legal papers for her clients seen a mighty chore at times. But slowly she started to see her job in a different light, even within the dryness of the legal office. Everyday seemed to be as normal and safe as every other day in her employment as a probate attorney. But now, everyday was becoming a bigger and bigger blessing to enjoy the company of Baxter’s and Graci’s shadows.

But in the back of her mind, every time Human looked down to pet the beloved Baxter and Graci, she knew that the day, the moment would arrive when she would make the hardest decision in her life. The catch 22 of the decisive moment arrived when she did not want to see her beloved Baxter’s and Graci’s old bodies suffer anymore. She knew that one day she would give her permission to the veterinarian to stick a needle into the skin of her two kid dogs to send them to dog heaven.

Human would take the time to stare at Baxter and Graci with the question, ‘Well, when are we going to do it? Simultaneously, she would glare at Dom and Olivia, her own human children, to wonder how she would explain to them that Baxter and Graci’s earthly lives would soon be over, finished, ended, gone forever from planet earth, as seemingly solid creatures But of course, there was more to it than that. Every time she saw the eyes of Baxter and Graci, she also saw the eyes of Olivia and Domanic.

The mother / lawyer knew the ways and dangers of the world. Her two pet dogs were like her children, but her children were her children. From the day they were born from her womb, she had fed them, clean and bathe them, clothed them, watched television with them, sang songs to them, and helped them learn about life as far as a human mother could teach the lessons of life to her children.

Nevertheless, the Human’s motherly instinct faced one of the hardest lessons of life, giving permission for the doggie doctor to stick the needle of death into her beloved dogs. To the outside observer, especially those people who had never owned a pet for any length of time, family pets may seem like lower creatures who have lived a good life. But the true pet owner truly knows different. When humans have cared for and loved a pet for so many years, the emotional attachment becomes a strong bond beyond words. Plus, the modern day dog is living in a modern day world too, and they must mentally learn and develop an emotional bond to their owners too. It can not be stopped.

After thirteen years of living the good life, after seeing her two beloved pets suffering more everyday, Human made the decision. She made the appointment with the veterinarian. She knew that the veterinarian knew the condition of Baxter and Graci, which made it somewhat easier for Human, the pet owner. Human knew that she needed to sit down with Olivia and Dom to have a heart to heart talk with them. Human tried not to get choked up as she stated to Olivia and Dom, ‘We need to say goodbye to Baxter and Graci.’

The tears started flowing from Human’s eyes as she could not believe she said the inevitable truth out loud. Immediately, tears flowed down the faces of Olivia and Dom too. They were copying their mommy, but they had too realized that Baxter and Graci were changing. Baxter and Graci waggled over to Human, Olivia, and Dom. They were wagging their tails as if to state, ‘It is ok. We know. It was a good life. Thanks for loving us.’ Everyone hugged Baxter and Graci because dogs do not cry at human’s problems dilemmas. In one real sense, they knew something more about eternal life than most humans. They could already began to smell their new afterlife.

Alone, Human brought Baxter and Graci to the veterinarian for the needle of death. She held onto and petted Baxter and Graci as she watched veterinarian stick that thin steel needle into Baxter’s and Graci’s bodies. Their eyes looked up towards Human’s eyes with a last thank you for a good life. Human held onto the back of their necks as she kissed them goodbye. Soon enough, Baxter and Graci closed their eyes to sleep forever. As if living in a bad dream, Human watched as her two doggie buddies disappeared into the dark doggie tunnel for their journey into the great beyond.

Human looked onto their lifeless bodies with the realization that a part of herself had died in that moment. A part of her earthly and human life, of her soul, was now forever gone. The veterinarian picked up Baxter and Graci and placed them into a cardboard box. He carried it to Human’s van and Human drove away in still silence.

Later on that day, Human and her husband and Olivia and Don drove together with the cardboard box. A tiny doggie funeral had been prepared for Baxter and Graci. They would be placed next to two other dogs, in the wooded and peaceful backyard of Human’s sister. Human placed their favorite doggie blankets and toys in the box. The short funeral happened without a trace of a smile or of a laugh. In the private moments of human’s earthly dreamlike somber moments, people can see their own mortality within the funeral of others. Yet, if they are smart, they will also start seeking for eternal life; instead of seeking only money if a world full of life and love.

After all was said and done, the real mourning would slowly creep into Human’s soul; Olivia’s and Dom’s and husband too. Returning to their house, everyone immediately noticed the stillness and silence of the house. Two dogs who had waggled and barked their way into the hearts and souls of mere mortal humans were now only a memory, but a powerful memory. A priceless memory that all of the money in the world could never buy.

The hearts of mere mortals who wished for the souls of immortals, if only within their hopeful dreams; because every hopeful human hopes for a sense of immortality. The voice of immortality filled the room with the memories of Baxter’s and Graci’s two wagging tails just as if they were still following Human into every room. Their physical shadows were not behind Human anymore. But that did not matter anymore because something more powerful had taken place. Human became increasingly aware of the increasingly enlarged flow of love from Baxter and Graci.

Human did not see it, but she felt it. She was feeling the love from Graci and Baxter as they started off in their new universe, free from their worn out bodies. Human was learning something about the deathless life and love that crosses over from one universe to another universe. Her spiritual heart lessened the pain of her human heart, healing the wounds of her hardest decision ever. Old habits never go away quickly or quietly. With every intention step, Human would turn her head downwards as if the Baxter or Graci were still following their human mother around the house. But with each downward turn towards the floor, Human could only feel the love of Baxter and Graci.

Within a day or two, Human thought she heard some barking in her backyard. So did Olivia and Domanic. They all ran outside to see what was there, but there were no dogs in the backyard. Human and Olivia and Domanic all looked up to see a half rainbow in the sky. Human moaned as she saw the surprise of her life. A cloud slowly took the shape of her dogs heads, as the first half of the rainbow.

The void of death is only for those who do not see beyond the pale gloom of the five physical senses. As all true spiritual seers spiritually know, the infinite spiritual senses of Soul overcomes the limited senses of the human brain’s limited perception of the universe. Baxter and Graci now belong to another universe, but their love will always be felt within the home of Human and her family.



SOME POEMS FOR DOG LOVERS


Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here,
that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.

There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends,
so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine,
and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor;
those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again,
just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing;
they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together,
but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance.
His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers.
Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass,
his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet,
you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again.

The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head,
and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet,
so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...


Stood Beside Your Bed Last Night

I stood by your bed last night, I came to have a peep.
I could see that you were crying, you found it hard to sleep.
I whined to you softly as you brushed away a tear.
"Its me, I haven't left you, I'm well, I'm fine, I'm here"
I was close to you at breakfast, I watched you pour the tea.
You were thinking of the many times your hands reached down to me.
I was with you at the shops today, your arms were getting sore.
I want to take your parcels, I wished I could do more.
I was with you at my grave today, you tend it with such care.
I want to reassure you that I'm not lying there.
I walked with you towards the house as you fumbled for the key,
I gently put my paw on you, I smiled and said "It's me".
You looked so very tired and then you sank into a chair,
I tried so hard to let you know that I was standing there.
Its possible for me to be so near you everyday,
to say to you with certainty "I never went away".
You sat there very quietly, then smiled,
I think you knew That in the stillness of that evening I was very close to you.
The day is over.... I smile and watch you yawning and say,
" Good Night, Sweet Dreams, God Bless, I'll see you in the morning".
And when the time is right for you to cross the brief divide
I'll rush to greet you and well stand together side by side.
I have so many things to show you, there's much for you to see.
Be patient, live your journey out; then come home and be with me.
-
Author Unknown-


DOG When God had made the earth and sky,
The flowers and the trees.
He then made all the animals,
The fish, the birds and bees.
And when at last He'd finished,
Not one was quite the same.
He said, "I'll walk this world of mine,
And give each one a name."
And so He traveled far and wide
And everywhere He went,
A little creature followed Him Until its strength was spent.
When all were named upon the earth
And in the sky and sea,
The little creature said,
"Dear Lord, There's not one left for me."
Kindly the Father said to him, "I've left you to the end.
I've turned my own name back to front
And called you dog, my friend


Author unknown...