Bailey had the sweetest “sugar face”!

When Billy Graham was asked, “Do dogs to go heaven?”, the great Evangelist replied, “God will prepare everything for our perfect happiness in Heaven, and if it takes my dog being there, I believe he’ll be there.” I notice he didn’t say anything about cats, but I’m sure they go, too. 

I’ve lost a few dogs. The two that hurt me the most were Boofer and Sidney. Boofer was an Aussie-Blue Healer mix who was the smartest dog I’ve ever known. You just talked to her and she knew what you wanted. Unfortunately, she got a pituitary tumor when she was only seven and we had her put down. I was very pregnant and it was just awful. 

We waited a couple of years before we got another dog. That’s when Sidney came to join us. He was a huge purebred Black Lab. He was the runt of the litter and wasn’t sold before the owners were leaving for vacation. In a desperate bid to find him a good home, they went down to our local Walmart and held him up for puppy snuggles.

I knew as soon as I looked in his soulful brown eyes that he was the man for me. I brought him home and sat in the front yard waiting for my family to get home for the surprise. Everyone was instantly in love and he graced us with his presence for fourteen years. 

I didn’t have another dog till Mr. Virgo came along with this little ten year old Yorkie-Maltese mix named Cricket. She was a feisty, yappy little dog who needed all kinds of care. I’d never had to get a dog groomed before and, while I loved her because I loved Mr. Virgo, it wasn’t close to the love I felt for my two special companions.

We had to release Cricket from her pain in January 2013. We had her cremated and her little tiny box sat on the hall table, waiting for the spring flower bed to become her new home. Then, just two months later, Mr. Virgo was gone. The funeral director told us we could bring mementos from home and place them in the casket if we wished. The first thing I thought of was Cricket, so she went with my sweetheart…tucked in the crook of his arm. 

After I became a widow, my kids said I should get a dog, but I just didn’t have it in me. I was getting ready to go on my Grand Adventure in the little camper I bought. The group of gals I camped with had few rules but one they were adamant about was no doggies. That wasn’t the only deterrent, though. I just did not want to be responsible for anyone or anything. It was everything I could do to learn to take care of myself. 

“Our dogs” are now the ones we love but don’t have to take care of. And last week, we heard the sad news that one of our grand-doggies…Bailey…went to the great dog run in the sky. She was a Chocolate Lab-Pitbull mix. It’s always so hard to lose a beloved pet and when we do, it’s perfectly normal to grieve as much as we do for human family members. I always try to remember to reach out to my friends whom I know have lost a pet because I know what it feels like when everyone moves on with their lives and I was left holding a bag full of grief.

So, do our beloved companions go to heaven? I have to say an unequivocal YES! There is no sweeter soul than those of babies and dogs. (OK, cat people…I’m sure your fur babies are there too…along with gerbils and bird and hamsters and ferrets and turtles…you get the drift.) Hubby #2 tells me, “We don’t deserve dogs.” They are just pure goodness. And I believe they’ll be waiting for us to arrive.

If you have lost a beloved family pet, please feel free to leave a picture here. Tell us their name and breed. How long you had them. How long it’s been. Let us hold you with a lingering hug and share in your memories, won’t you? I would love to see your fur babies.

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“That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.”

Romans 8:18-21 MSG