I Love You Miles

I feel like all I blog about anymore is our loss of pets. Thats pretty sad. I am even more sad to say that we lost or our good dog Miles. And when I say good, I really mean it. I feel that for a dog, the word "good" is the greatest compliment a master could give to his or her dog.

He was not always a good dog. In fact, as a puppy I found him to be incredibly obnoxious. He barked about everything. If he was tired, wanted us to cover him up with his blanket, wanted his jacket, needed do go to the bathroom, if we tied him up and went into a store, left him in the car, or he wasn't allowed to sit on the couch. He was so annoying. He used to jump on everyone, especially pregnant people. He stuck his nose up women's skirts, pooped in shoes, and pulled on the lead. He chewed up books, wicker baskets, his bed, and even the wall. And he used to stare at me all the time, no matter what I was doing. Sometimes he huffed at me, with his little lip folds flapping in and out while he whimpered in the most irritating way. Half the time I didn't know what he wanted. One time I counted his barks. In one minute he barked over 100 times. It was very stressful taking him to the dog beach because he was just so fast. In five seconds he could run to the other end of the beach. It would take me at least two minutes of running to catch up to him.

I once called my mom and complained about how crazy he was, and how he was driving me crazy. She said to me, that we didn't have to keep him if worse comes to worst. Her saying that really went right to my heart. I knew that we would never give Miles up. We made a commitment to him. He was a good natured dog and never showed signs of aggression. So as far as I was concerned, we had to make it work.

Her words really convicted me though. I started thinking about what I could do to have a better attitude toward him. One night I dreamed that Miles was actually a little boy. He was God's little boy and God had given him to me to look after. This was a very convicting dream. I know that dogs are not people. So don't worry, I am not that crazy. But I do really value the concept of stewardship. I believe that everything that is given to us is not actually ours, it is our Creator's. These things, everything, has been entrusted to us, and we are called to look after them. I believe we will be held accountable for how we look after this earth and all of it's living creatures. So I feel like God was asking me to change my attitude toward Miles, and love him despite his craziness.

So I loved him dearly, with all of my doggy loving heart. And as he grew older, he became the most amazing dog. He was always gentle and loving toward our children. He became my companion on my walks in the evening and had no problem sticking close by off lead, even when there were rabbits about. He was never aggressive and loved everyone he met.

He was also very intuitive. One afternoon when I was pregnant with Pearl, Miles and I started out on our walk. We got to the footpath and Miles refused to go any further. He just froze. I yanked on his leash, yelled at him, and even tried pushing him up the hill. But he just refused. So I gave up. A few minutes after we got back home, I had a severe asthma attack. I made it to the doctor in time and spent the afternoon on oxygen and went to the hospital that evening to have Pearl checked out. I have never had and asthma attack before. I like to think that Miles saved our lives.

Its really hard to say how much I loved him. I think back on all of those walks up in the hills and seeing him there next to me, looking up and prancing with glee as I tell him what a good dog he is. On the day that he died, I woke that morning from a dream I had of him. Light was pouring through and open door where he was standing, waiting for us. When he saw us coming, his skinny, whip like tail started going around in circles with joy. Then he did a big happy stretch filled with contentment. I feel like this dream was a gift from God. This was my last memory of Miles and I am so grateful that it was filled with so much peace and love.

Goodbye for now my good and lovely Miles.