Lord Help Me Be the Person my Dog thinks I am...
- Lisa Vaught
- Mar 30, 2015
- 3 min read
This is a very cool quote. It's so true. Dogs are purity of soul, emotion and heart. The picture on the right is my first service dog Jet snuggled on my lap. The most favorite place was his heart beating next to mine. It was so difficult to feel the strength in his heroic heart snuggled against mine in the months prior to his death.
On Good Friday April 22nd 2011, Jet woke me up early...he never did that. He woke me up to say it was time. I had kept him pain free with round the clock with medicine for his oral cancer. Suddenly it wasn't enough. We had already scheduled our friend and vet to come that evening to help us. Jet moved up the schedule, and I wouldn't have him suffer a moment more than necessary.
We sat cuddled together heart to heart and watched the sunrise one more morning, lighting his golden hair through the window as if painted in liquid gold...Time to go home.
As I held him one last time in a private area at the vets, he sat curled up in my lap with ultimate love, ultimate trust that I was keeping the promise of no pain. That at least I could give to him. The last thing I felt was his valiant heart strongly beating against me...he didn't want to leave me...
Athough sad, he dwells forever in my heart. Other service dogs will help me God willing, but Jet has that special part of my heart.
So, even though the years and time has passed, this time of the year will always make my heart skip a beat and squeeze it with a brief hurt. Then it will pass and I will remember all the good times, because the majority were all good...and he wanted me to go on.
I rather remember all that we did, enjoyed and taught me. Remembering the seizures he predicted, the times he saved me. What a wonderful gift! A beautiful experience.
Occasionally special times during our lives actually change them. Change the course in a life and make it worth living in a much more satisfying way. Jet and Canine Assistants has been that for me. I got my life back the day I sat in the training room and Jet threw himself into my arms!
And the specialness and wonder hasn't stopped....life has changed but is still wonderful! Frax picked me in November 2011. He was very well aware that another dog had lived with us. He could smell it on us, the car, and our home when he walked in. He knew that Jet had been from the same loving training center~ Jet's things were still around, he could smell where they were from. All these things Frax knew: and he offered his great big heart totally, fully and without reservations. What a wonderful gift! An amazement.
Frax has picked up seamlessly in a traumatic situation, performing flawlessly and reassuringly. It's been such a joy seeing his neat quirks and foibles that are original just to him. He is 'his own dog' for sure...and I love him to bits! He too has saved me too many times to innumerate, he's flexable, intuitive and the most patient helper anyone could ask for. I'm sure Jet had a paw in picking him to step into his place.
I hope that both my helpers feel that I have grown into a better person for being a team with both of them. I pray I have, I feel I have...Because at the end of the day folks, all we have is love, isn't it?
Later...
LV, FX & JT
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