John Cali - Dogs: Heart-Warming, Soul-Stirring Stories of Our Canine Companions

Dedication

This book is dedicated to those humans everywhere who love and care for dogs who also care for them. God could not have chosen a greater gift for humanity than to grace our lives with these wonderful, magical, uninhibited creatures. They unconditionally give their all, and ask little in return.

And so this book is dedicated also to those creatures who bring so much joy, pleasure, love, and healing into our lives.

We dedicate this book also to all people involved in the healing, caring, and nurturing of dogs: the veterinary professionals, the selfless souls who give their resources to help countless homeless dogs, members of the many organizations dedicated to dog welfare, and to all those advocates for the rights of dogs and all animals, including the many unsung anonymous heroes who give so much love in so many ways to our animal families.

Although we dont see much good news in the mainstream news media, there are far more acts of kindness and love in our world today than there are acts of evil. We need only to look to the dogs good deeds to see that.

I would love to see the world go to the dogs.

Copyright 2015 John Cali

Revised Edition

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Contents

Introduction

I was shopping recently in a local store. Just after I arrived, one of the young ladies who works there came in with her dog. Life is pretty informal here in this little Wyoming town. As in Europe, people dont mind if you bring your dog into a store.

The dog was a tiny black bundle of furshe was about eight or nine inches tall, and couldnt have weighed more than three or four pounds. What she lacked in size, however, she more than made up for in her boundless energy.

As soon as she spotted me, she came running up, bright eyes sparkling with joy through her thick black eyebrows. She stood on her hind legs, front paws on my knee, with a big smile on her face, tail wagging furiously. She was adorable. Obviously, she loved peopleeveryone, it seemed, since she greeted each new customer in the same friendly manner.

She filled the whole store with her energy and love. People were smiling and laughing, even with other folks they didnt know.

This tiny creature instantly, magically transformed the whole place. The shift in energy was dramatic and all felt it. Their faces suddenly lit up with joy and happiness, as if they were once again little children.

Such is the power of unbridled love and joy. Dogs uplift us, make us smile, and let us know we are loved.

The following excerpts from a book by the late Rev. Diane K. Chapin give us a more spiritual perspective of our animal companions. Dianes words are a wonderful tribute to dogs, and to all pets.

Pets come in with the singular purpose of displaying spirituality for you in its highest form. That is, they live in the moment, they provide unconditional love, they honor themselves and you at all times.

Pets live connected to other souls rather than in a disconnected state as so many human entities do. They are literally lights of Spirit on earth and that is how they should be viewed by you. They are illuminated to the fullest of their capability, which is truly what spirituality is aboutto be illuminated to the fullest of their capabilityof your capability. In other words, they honor Spirit at all times.

...those animals who come into your life for a lengthy period of time are literally vibrationally attuned to you. They come in on a wave of upliftment and grace into your very home to bring you an aspect of love and contentment that you may be lacking in other areas of your life. This is why these beings come into your life.

This is how you should be serving one another: with unconditional love, with unquestioned reverence for the divinity of one another. This is what they see and this is what their message is to you: that they will love you unconditionally until their deaths, but that, so too, should you love one another unconditionally and see the Spirit of divinity that is behind the eyes of all souls....The pet sees through ego, personality and selfishness to that which is the essence of all beings.

Please enjoy these heart-warming, soul-stirring stories of some of the most enchanting and quirky canines youll ever meet.

More Than Just A Dog

Kate Fratti

No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich.

Louis Sabin

Dont console Helen Stout by telling her the German shepherd shes grieving was just a dog. Helen, fifty-seven, lost something dear when Baron died this month.

She brought him home to Lower Makefield ten years ago. Baron lived for walks, car rides, doggie treats, and Helens attention. Her husband would say, Helen, hes a dog. But she didnt pay him any mind. She loved that animal.

Not because he was heroic or remarkable, though he was, in Helens eyes, a darling.

Everyone who knew him liked him, she said. Even the UPS guy whom Baron would escort up the walk. Helen would open the door and there theyd be, man and beast.

Baron was 110 pounds. Its hard to say if the UPS man liked Baron or was just grateful Baron didnt eat him.

I wouldnt wonder about this to Helen. She called Baron her beloved companion. She is a head-over-heels dog lover. Just like dog enthusiast George G. Vest. Hes the guy who said:

The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog....He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world....When all other friends desert, he remains.

But I tell Rachel Canelli, the young woman who sits in the cubicle next to me, that George G. Vest is full of soup.

All dogs arent as loyal as some want us to believe. If they were, mine wouldnt pee on a neighbors front lawn just as the neighbor is pulling into her driveway.

Not all dogs are loyal, easy friends like Baron. Its a lie we should stop telling each other.

I tell Rachel this so she wont cry at her desk. Maddie, the mix of Shar-Pei and God-knows-what Rachel and husband Mike rescued from the pound, ran away last week. Out the doggy door, over the electric fence, the little purple and pink bandana flapping in the breeze.

Rachel feels she lost more than just a dog.

She and Mike put up fliers, put an ad in the paper, knocked on doors, called the animal control officer and the SPCA. Maddie, with more wanderlust than good sense, was last seen near Crooked Billet Elementary School in Hatboro. If you have her, Rachel and Mike want her back. Very much.

Thats funny, when you hear how Maddie pooped on the carpet, hopped on the bed, and chewed the stuffing right out of the love seat. They loved her. Played ball with her, cuddled her, cut a hole in the wall for that doggy door so she wouldnt feel cooped up.

Maybe she met up with Brutus. Hes missing, too. A white English bulldog last seen near New Falls Road and the Levittown Parkway, according to the ad, which reads, Family devastated.