Best friend!
God has been so amazing to create a dog. He had to create them knowing that they would be the best companion for everyone. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are a dog can cheer, guide, save you from danger, love, save your life, etc. The stories that we hear are endless. What about the guy who was saved because his dog knew he was going to have a heart attack or the child who has been helped with anxiety from having a dog as a companion. Or even the Seeing Eye dogs. I could go on and on but I think you get the picture. In this blog, I am going to share the story of me and my family’s best friend.
What happened?
I still remember the day that Rascal came into our lives. The week before had started very sadly. My husband and I had gotten a dog (Daphne) not long after we got married. And several years later we inherited our neighbor’s dog (Lady) when she had to move away. They were both great dogs but got old. And within a few days of each other, we had to put them to sleep. It was a hard time.
My oldest son Jeffrey was having a hard time with losing Lady because they hiked the mountains together all the time. She had become very much a part of both Jeffrey and Aaron’s life. They often hiked every single day.
Jeffrey shared with me his desire to get another dog. I told him that he needed to do his research on what kind of dog he would like because all puppies are cute. So he went to work on doing his research, which did not take him long. He came to me and said, “I have decided on the best kind of dog for our family. The best dog is a Golden Retriever.” I shared with him how difficult it would be to find one we could afford because they were purebred, which made them more expensive.
So our search began. At the time female Golden Retrievers were going for $800 and males for $500. We started looking at all the humane societies and looking at our local adds paper. But we were having no bites. Then one day as we headed off to yet another shelter, we stopped and got a local adds paper. As I began to read I ran across an ad that said, “Golden Retrievers, $200 for females and $150 for males.” I could not believe my eyes. How was this possible?
When I called the add it started to make sense. They were a family that had gotten into 4-H with their daughter and were breeding Gold Retrievers without papers so that people like us could afford to buy one. We were excited and headed right over to take a look.
The day he came
After putting down two dogs my husband was glad for the relief. He didn’t want to have another dog around. But….In the meantime, we were looking for a Golden Retriever, which he knew we were but I think he was hoping we wouldn’t find one. When my dad, Jeffrey, and I went to look at the puppies, Jeffrey fell in love. There were several different batches of puppies but Jeffrey was keen on this one particular puppy. He was different from the others and was next to the last of his litter. There were a couple of things different about him, one was that he was the runt and the other was that he was golden instead of the typical reddish color. He took to Jeffrey right away and we did not leave there without a puppy.
And that is what came to be one of the fondest memories in our family because Rascal became a part of our family. I remember very well that night when my husband came home and we were all sitting around the living room with smiles on our face. He wanted to know what was up. Then Jeffrey swung around in our swivel chair and there sitting on his lap was a bundle of golden fur. My husband fell in love. Our lives were going to change from that day forward but none of us knew how much.
What was life like?
Rascal was a typical puppy. You know the type! Chew everything in sight. Dig holes in the yard, canyons more like it. And talk about energy!! I have to say he became one of the greatest vole catchers. He could hear them and it was amazing to watch him sit and turn his head listening and then he would dig like mad. And yes, he often came up with his prize. He never ate them but he would carry them around in his mouth then lay them down and sit and watch them. Then when they tried to get away he would pick them up again. Eventually, they died, probably out of fear.
Then when he was around 2 years old everything changed. He calmed down, didn’t dig as much, but still would go after the voles. And he became the most loving gentle dog a person could want. He loved everyone that came. Although, we did always wondered if he would open the door for a thief because he didn’t seem to have any enemies. He loved everyone. But then one day someone came that he felt uncomfortable with and he sat with a low growl the whole time the person was here. He did that just a few times in his lifetime that I can remember. So he was a good judge of character.
He loved walks, hikes, or any place you wanted to take him. He would hike the mountains with the boys but walk beside you if you were just out for a stroll. You felt safe with him by your side. There came a point where a leash was unnecessary. But he still knew what the leash meant. 
So he would go and get his leash if he thought we were going on a walk and bring it to us. He would dance with joy and cries of excitement. He knew the signs of a walk. You know, shoes, coats, if cold, he seemed to sense when you were doing it for a walk.
Then there was the time Aaron got a horse. I knew right off that I did not want Rascal to go into the fenced area. You know that tendency of a dog. They love to roll in the manure. I was not about to let that happen. So we got a shock collar. We did not keep it on him all the time and it only took a couple of times to teach him. We purposely put it on him and went out to the fence hoping he would go through and when he did we gave it to him. He backed up, stopped, and then looked up at the horse like what did you do to me. We only had to do that a couple of times and that was it. He never went into the fenced area.
The horse and he would play, the horse running on the inside of the fence while Rascal ran on the outside. They had such fun. The funny part is that after Aaron got rid of the horse we could not get Rascal to go passed the gate. And this went on for several years afterward. The gate was gone and even part of the fence but he would not go passed.
Then tragedy struck
This is another day that I will never forget when Rascal was around 8 years old. Rascal loved to be outdoors and lay in the sun. And he often slept in the driveway. This particular day, Jeffrey and I were headed out together to do something. We were in separate vehicles. I had backed up and was waiting for Jeffrey to go ahead of me because he drives on our dirt road faster than I do. But he seemed to be taking a long time so I decided to go ahead and start. I wasn’t gone long when I got a frantic call. Jeffrey had back over Rascal and he was under the car. I was told that he was bleeding from his mouth. My heart sank.
When I arrived back at the house Jeffrey along with his grandpa, had jacked the car up off of Rascal. I was able to see right away that he was not bleeding out of his mouth but just from his lip being ground into the ground, that was a relief. We could not get him to crawl out from under the car. The vet suggested treats. You have to be kidding me right now. I mean do you want something special to eat when your in major distress or pain? But I did try and of course, he would not eat it. Then the Lord impressed me to get his leash. He loved walks as I stated earlier. So I got his leash, put it on his collar, and he crawled out dragging his back legs.
There are weeks worth of time to this story so I won’t go into all of it. But suffice it to say that Rascal had to end up having back surgery. He got two rods with screws put in his back. When the doctor said what it would take he could not guarantee that he would be able to walk afterward. It had been so long since the original accident because the break had not shown up right away. But praise the Lord he was able to walk.
A Year Later
I believe it was about a year later after the surgery when he was between 9 or 10, Rascal had this spot on one of his legs. It kept bleeding and there was a hole. We finally took him into the vet to see what the problem was. My husband did want me to ask them if metal parts from his surgery could be coming out. I did ask the vet and they did not think that would be possible. But they were concerned that he had cancer. They did a couple of tests but they would need to do one that was more expensive to really know if it was cancer. Or I could just take some ointment home and see if it would heal. I opted for the latter.
To our amazement a couple of days later someone noticed something sticking out of the hole. Sure enough, it was a round metal piece. We removed it and went back to the vet with our evidence. They called the surgeon and he said it was a piece of metal that they use for a temporary hold for the rod. And it had worked its way out of his body. Something like a sliver will work its way out of your finger. Rascal was never a complainer he just went with the flow. He still walked and hiked with no complaining. He was an amazing dog and so many lessons can be learned from him.
Another year passed
Time goes by so fast that you can’t even remember whether it has been another year but I believe it was around 10 or 11 when we discovered more. Rascal was full of so much beautiful golden hair that you could not tell that anything was wrong. But one day I was petting him and reach down to rub his tummy. What I discovered was disturbing.
Rascal’s tummy was not only huge but hard. It made me wonder how in the world he was able to walk and hike with us carrying around whatever it was. So again we were back at the vet. They took an x-ray and discovered a huge mass. Of course, they couldn’t know if it was cancer without surgery. It appeared to be attached to his spleen so they planned to take it out with the mass. So he was back in surgery.
When the surgery was done it was amazing to see the size of the mass. It was the size of a volleyball. And as it turned out it was a blood clot. Wow! What a huge blood clot! We concluded that it probably started from that little rod worked its way out of his body through his leg. Even the vet agreed that was the only explanation she could think of. Yet again he never complained. He just wanted to be with the family and he gave so much love. It doesn’t do any good to complain.
Still, more time passed
You might be thinking, what more could happen to this amazing dog. Well, I would say it was when he was around 12 years old that he started bleeding from one of his toes. We thought he had caught his nail on something while hiking. We took him in and this time it was cancer. They removed his toe but it took a long time to heal. Within the next year, we noticed a growth on the same leg they had removed the toe. We didn’t bother to take him in because we knew it would just be another cancer spot.
He had already started to have a harder time hiking due to his back and surgery he had several years before. His back legs had shown less and less muscle mass over time. But he would still want to go on walks.
Last winter when we were all home we went for a hike. He had gotten to the point that he would go so far on the road but when we would head up the mountain he would head back home. But this particular day we were all home and going for a hike as a family.
As we headed up the mountain we just expected that he would go home. There was lots of snow so we did not think that he would even consider plowing through it. But we were mistaken. He went around a different way where there was a road. But the problem was that at a certain point the road had not been plowed. When we discovered him he as laying in the snow unable to move. He had crawled up through the snow probably mostly dragging his back legs. We tried everything that get him to move. We waited and let him rest but no he was not going to be able to walk.
So the decision was made, he needed to be carried. My boys took turns carrying him down the mountain. I decided to and get a sled. But the problem is that we had never been able to get him to go in a sled. It was worth a try. The boys got him down to the road as I was coming with the sled. And to our amazement, he crawled onto the sled. He seen we were helping him and realized that the sled would be a help to him so he got on. Rascal was an amazing dog.
He never tried to go walking with us up the mountain again until spring when the snow was gone and even then it didn’t happen much. But then this winter he tried it again. 
His favorite person above all is my son Aaron. I am not sure why he took to him so much but he did. But since Aaron got married he is not here much. One weekend around Christmas he and his wife came. So they went for a hike with a couple of the other boys not thinking Rascal would follow. At this point, he didn’t go out with us even if we walked on the road with no snow.
It is amazing what love will do. He loved and missed Aaron so much that, without them knowing it, he tried to follow them. When my daughter, husband, and I realized he was gone we went looking for him. We actually never found him. He hiked up the mountain for while but he must have realized his limitation and he circled around and came home. One thing that made it so hard to find him is that he couldn’t really hear much anymore so it was useless to call him. We were able, because of the snow, to find and follow his tracks.
Then came the day that he was almost acting as if he had a stroke. He had gotten into some food garbage and they can react like that when getting food poisoning. But whatever the case was he quickly went downhill. We did get him to throw up all the bad food but he wouldn’t eat. He kept drinking water though and I finally started giving him puppy formula, which he would eat. By the time I thought about doing it he was too far gone. I would check on him every couple of hours through the night and sometimes he seemed improved and other times worse.
We had been praying every day. The night of March 3rd my daughter and I had a special prayer. My prayer, “Lord, please heal him but if it is better for him to just be laid to rest please don’t allow him to keep suffering.”
I got up just before midnight to check on him. I tried to get him to drink some water and he did a little. Then I got up around 1:30 am and he was sleeping peacefully. His last breath was on the 4th of March. He was so loved and gave so much love to all around him. I can say that Rascal did not have an enemy in the world. Rascal always saw the good in those around him. Even the two people that he questioned in his lifetime had nothing to do with him, he was thinking about protecting the ones that he loved.
What about us
What can we learn from this amazing dog? I think one of those things is complaining. We, as humans, complain about everything it seems. We don’t trust God through the hard times, we complain. It is easy to look at the story in the Bible of the Children of Israel and wonder how they could have complained. I mean God just parted the sea so that they could walk across on dry land surely he could provide water for them to drink. But no, they had to start complaining rather than turning to God and requesting water and then waiting patiently, trusting Him.
The reality is that we are not any different. Maybe you can say you are but I can’t. I struggle with complaining. When work is slow we start to fear that we can’t make it financially and we start to complain. When there is more snow than we want we start to complain. And then when it rains too much we complain. When there is too much sun that brings fire danger we complain. I could go on and on and on. But suffice to say we complain. And most of our complaining comes out of fear.
He also loved
The other thing that we can learn is to love. Rascal loved everyone. It didn’t matter how young, old, color of skin, etc. He just loved you. He had the discernment to know if someone was dangerous, which was not much through his lifetime. But he accepted and loved with unconditional love.
We need to love others. Our tendency is to judge the person before we show love. And if they are not what we think they should be we move on. I am so grateful that Jesus did not do that with us. We need to have a Christ-like love. Love the unlovable because that is what is going to bring them to the knowledge of the One that can change them. Who is going to love them? Remember we may be the only Jesus they meet. Let Jesus live in you so that all they see is Him.
Dear Father,
Thank You for giving us the best friends in our dogs. It has been painful to lose Rascal but we thank You for giving us such an amazing dog. A dog that has shown us what is important in life, not complaining but loving. Help us to take this lesson and apply it to our own lives. We live in a world of uncertainty right now. Help us not to complain, gossip or get caught up in the gossip, and help us just to love. We need to reach out to people now more than ever even though it may not be in person. Help us to have Your love and compassion.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Choose not to complain and just show love and compassion.
Love you all.
A lot of us have pets. I would love to hear some stories about what your pets have done, funny stories and serious ones. And what lessons you have drawn. Write it in the comments below.