Wow. It feels good to be back at work. Please keep in mind that Dr. Alfonso is still working on adding the free membership site. It will be the perfect place for people to honor their dogs. Or a dog may have had something to do with you having a spiritual experience that changed your life. This just isn’t for dogs who have saved a human’s life, but all dogs to gave something meaningful to their owner. Perhaps a puppy, a lost or stray dog, a dog who needed your help and you ended up feeling blessed because of your involvement. It will be a chance for people to support each other, while giving recognition to phenomenal dogs. You can contact Dr. Alfonso at support@cooldoghalloffame.com.

I had an experience that I seldom talk about. I’m afraid no one will believe me, or they’ll think I’m nuts!

I was about eight years old. The people who lived next door to us had an old dog who slept all day in the hot sun. The poor thing had arthritis so bad, he could barely move. His owners sometimes carried him up and down the stairs. Some days he needed help to get up onto all four feet.

They were having problems with their septic tank. The men had taken the lid off. To me, it looked like a round piece of cement. I was going to jump on it to play with my new skipping rope. My knees were bent, ready to jump when the old dog was suddenly standing in front of me. He refused to move. I went to shove him out of the way, but he leaned on my legs pushing me backwards. I was getting a bit annoyed. Until I happened to look at the “grey cement pad.” It had bubbles coming up to the surface. It wasn’t cement. If I had jumped I would have gone right to the bottom.

Being a child I still had a sense of horror at what nearly happened. I wound my hand into the long fur of the old dog. He led me back to his sunny spot where we both sat down. It was then I realized that there was no way he could have walked unassisted, from the house to the septic tank, far out in the field. When we walked back, he showed no signs of arthritis. How had he managed to get in front of me when I thought of jumping, from where he was?

I stayed with him for a long time. He put a paw on my leg, gazing up at me. His eyes were so warm, so wise and I could feel the love. Something changed in me that day. Even now I can’t explain it. I believe that angels come in all forms. That crippled old dog had somehow been granted enough strength to reach me, then prevent me from what would have been my death.

We moved to the city a few weeks after that. I heard from a friend that the old dog had passed away in his sleep. My parents thought I was a bit strange when I cried over the news. I begged them to take me out to where he was buried. They must have been fed up with all the bawling I was doing, so they drove me out. I knelt by his grave, placing a bouquet of dandylions on the mound of earth. I thought to myself, I didn’t even know his name. While I was there, I patted his grave, and thanked him for what he had done for me. A sense of peace filled me. Even as a child, I realized this was something special.

I like to believe that he was indeed a protector, and I think he watches over me to this day. I never did learn his name.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 26th, 2008 at 10:27 am and is filed under Cool Dogs Wonderful Memories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.