pay close attention to your dog

Your pet is a part of your family. They are there for you to love and in turn will give that love back. Just like you look after them, they too will be there for you when they sense the need.

This post is about our Porter boy, but before I talk about him, I need to give you some of the back story.

A few weeks ago the Preacher and I were having a very stressful week. He was preparing for a memorial service, a wedding and his Sunday message, all of course happening in one weekend. And on top of all of this the Preacher injured his eye, causing us to go to an ophthalmologist for an emergency visit.

During that same week he also was dealing with a person who was homeless and needed a place to stay. The Preacher found her housing for a couple of days, but she was not happy with the people she was staying with and would call the Preacher complaining about the help that he provided and wanted to argue with the Preacher every time he would give her a suggestion. Also, during this same time, we found out that another person the Preacher had counseled was very upset with the Preacher because he didn't like the counsel that was given to him. After some friends of ours, who also had tried to reach out to this person, contacted the police because he seemed to become obsessed with them, we found out that the police suggested we keep our doors locked and I and my friend were not to be at home or our offices by ourselves.

Needless to say my stress level was now heightened by all of the chaos that seemed to be surrounding us.

I took the advice and began keeping the office doors locked. But one day the Preacher had come into the office to discuss what the rest of our day was going to look like. The Preacher then left to go on a bike ride to try to take a break and clear his head. Little did I know that he didn't lock the office door when he left. Upon his departure, I turned my back to the door and began to go back to work and then I hear the door opening.

This was someone new. He was very dirty and his clothes were hanging very loosely on his small frame. His one eye was half way shut and his hair was very dusty. You could tell he had not had a bath in quite some time. I saw that he had a bicycle parked outside of the office and it seemed every thing he owned, mostly bicycle pieces parts, were hanging off of the bike. From what I saw in front of me I immediately knew that he was homeless.

I grabbed the door hoping that he understood that he was not to come into the office, but I also asked him how we could help him. He looked down and saw Porter. He began to mumble about knowing someone with a border collie and still in a low mumble told me how he had lived in Texas, New Mexico and Illinois. He also wanted to let me know that the Governor of Illinois had killed one of the Kennedy's. I could sense that this was not a good situation. 

If you have every met Porter, our Border Collie, you know that he is a very loving dog and you can see that he wants to be friends with everyone. He will jump up asking you to give him some rubs and anxious for you to play with him.

I immediately grabbed Porter, thinking that he would start to jump up on this man, and possibly run out the door. Porter immediately began to try to wiggle his way out of my hold, and as soon as he did he didn't do any of the things that I thought he would do. 

He came up to me and laid down at my feet. Actually he laid his head ON my feet and stayed there the entire time I was talking with this person. 

The Preacher came back and saw that I was very upset because this man was not talking coherently and I did not know what to do with him. When Porter saw the Preacher he took off out of the door to greet him. Porter then went over to the man, sniffed his leg, and immediately came back to me. 

Not once did Porter jump up or invite the man to play. Although he was not showing any signs of being aggressive, he was there to protect me. He understood that this person was not someone whom you should be around.

I didn't quite understand his behavior until the man was gone and I could think through the things that had been said and done.

I am glad that Porter was with me. He is just a cute, loving dog, but I now know that he is here to help me discern who I should and shouldn't trust. I know that he is there to save me if ever the unthinkable should happen.

Pay close attention when your dog changes his behavior around a certain person. You don't know when it just might save you.

porter

Meet Porter, our newest border collie and member of the family. 

Our home is again filled with dog toys, barking, growling, cat and dog fights, dog treats, and water spills. It is also filled with a puppy that knows that he is loved and a puppy that gives that love back to us. 

The Church Dog

Today I thought I'd introduce you to our puppy, Sergeant!

He is our Soldier-son's dog, but the Preacher and I have custody of this little guy while our son is away.

A year ago while we were at our little town's small festival called Old Thresher Days, our son visited the small petting zoo (I'm using this term very loosely), and there he saw some puppies and kittens that were either for sale or for free. He had been wanting a new puppy since his other dog, Max (you can read about Max here), had passed away just 3 months before. While there, he saw three little border collie puppies and he fell head over heels for this little dog.

He just had to have this cutie.

Then, just 2 months later, our son raised his right hand and took the oath to protect his country and off to basic training he went. Now the Preacher and I have custody.

Let me explain how he has become the Church Dog. From the very beginning, before our Soldier-son left for the military, he would bring little Sargy to church with him on Sunday mornings. They would sit on the back row and you would never know our son had a dog with him because Sargy would just lay either in his arms or on the floor under the seat, never making a sound.

After our son left, the Preacher and I began bringing him into work with us here at the church and we would bring him with us on Sunday mornings. He stayed in our office during the service and after service I would put him on his leash and let him play outside. The kids would come and say hi and play with him until their parents were ready to go home.
















I never considered Sargy to be the church dog until I read an article that one of our Elder's had written for our church's monthly newsletter, In the article he talks about the joy of seeing the children having fun at church. He asked the parents to think about seeing their children "running up and down the stairs or the kids who play with the Smith's dog after church." 

And then one day our Worship Leader was taking pictures after church of the kids playing out in the front yard and he took a picture of Sargy, posted it on Facebook, and called Sargy the Church Dog. And there you have it, our dog is now the official Church Dog!

Does your church have an official church dog or cat?

Sergeant ;) The Church Dog

Love from the Preacher, Sargy and I