On Dogs and Devotion

Sabrina and I heard of a Black Labrador noted to be sitting by a mailbox. He did not belong to the family who resided there. One day, two days, three days he sat there, day and night, faithfully waiting for his owner to come back and retrieve him… The same owner who had dumped him out of the car. He remained faithfully where he was abandoned. Apparently loyalty only runs one way in that relationship.

This happens with a depr

Lucky Garvin
Lucky Garvin

essing frequency at the Roanoke Valley SPCA.

He was rescued and found a loving home with an owner not so sick in the head and in the heart.

It is maintained by some – even some religious folks – that pets and critters don’t go to Heaven. It might have been Noel Coward who said, “If dogs don’t go the Heaven, just send me to wherever they go.” There’s a part of me – a large part – who feels the same way. There’s no need to be apprehensive about being in that Afterlife alone… Sabrina and many other animal lovers will be there. Noel Coward would forgo the blessings of Heaven for the company of dogs and cats. And, there’s this to be said, if Heaven is a place of perfect happiness, why deny animals admission? Where’s the happiness in that?

The loyalty this dog showed puts me in mind of a Japanese dog, an Akita named ‘Hachito,’ who would accompany his beloved owner to the train station in Shibuya. Then he would go do doggie things until it was time for his master to come home, so he would trot back to the station to meet him each day.

One day his owner had a fatal calamity in his office [Stroke? Heart attack?] and died. That evening the ever-loyal Hachito came to meet the train. Each evening fourteen years, Hachito was there. Word spread about his master, but how to tell Hachito? He was petted and fed for the years he waited.

Then he, too, followed his master in death. What a re-union that must have been! A statue was erected in Shibuya to honor the faithfulness of this dog. He breathed, his heart kept a steady beat, and just like these uncontemplated vital workings, he was loyal. He responded to the deep proddings of steadfastness most of us will never know.

– Lucky Garvin

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