My daughter’s dog, “Thunder”, has been in declining health for months now. He is eating less, sleeping more, and generally not doing well. Sadly, it is a pattern I have seen too many times as my own dogs have gotten older. Thunder is 12 years old or 84 in people years. It has always seemed so unfair to me that our dogs live such short lives compared to ours.

Seeing that Thunder’s time was coming to an end, my daughter tried to adopt a new puppy to keep her other middle aged dog company. Unfortunately that didn’t work out as she hoped. Her dogs didn’t enjoy having a high energy puppy around so “Hank” the puppy ended up with me. Thankfully, my sons and both of my dogs adopted him as their own. Each day Hank runs and plays with them all until everyone is worn out but him.

Watching Hank romp, bark, chew, and play all day makes me wish that I still had the energy of a puppy. On the age scale I am much closer to Thunder than Hank. My body tends to be sore and achy every day and I just can’t do all the things I used to. And I know that I have lived more years here than I have left to go.

As I watch both Thunder and Hank, however, my heart fills with love for them. Dogs are such a gift from God. They teach us so much about life. They play with abandon. They love unconditionally. And they live each day with such joy. If we all could just live with the love our dogs do, this world would be a better place. I take comfort in knowing too that deep inside this old dog body of mine, the spirit of a young puppy still dwells. It is a spirit both loving and eternal. It is a spirit that will one day leave this world to be reunited with God and all the people and animals I have ever loved. And in that place of never ending Love, Joy, and Light there will be no more illness and no more goodbyes.