By: Joel Allen
Hello, folks! It has been almost 5 years since Zues passed. I don’t know if I shared this with all my readers before, but I have a story to tell after his passing. In December 2016, approximately 3 days after Zues had passed, I was lying in my bed trying to sleep. All my pack was in the bedroom with me, a comfort I always treasure; and I was missing Zues badly when out of the darkness I could hear his tags ringing out as if he were in the room moving about in the dark. I was thinking, “There is no way that can be!” and I leapt out of my bed. No, I was not asleep, nor did I drift into sleep, for me to hear that distinct ring of his collar. When I went over in the darkness to the corner where I heard his collar ringing out from his big identification service dog tag with his picture and rabies tag together, I found his box of ashes laid on top of his collar. It was impossible for the tags to ring out because the box was laid on top of the tags. I even checked to see if another of my pack had their collars on with tags to ring. None of mine did. I sat and thought to myself that Zues is waiting on me; and I believe that now. Another example of Zues’s presence still with me is from not long after that incident when I had a back procedure done and was put under. When I came out of the procedure and was coming out from under the anesthesia, my mom was with me in the recovery room; and she told me I was pointing at the side of my bed and telling her Zues was there.
Folks, you can’t tell me that dogs don’t have spirits. I think that those who believe they are not on the other side waiting for us have not lived and in my opinion are quite ignorant. I am ignorant myself on many things, but not on this issue. There are people I know or have known who have testified about similar experiences.
I was reminded of this the other day, in fact, because my mom texted a picture of a painting titled, “Jesus and the Great Dane.” It was beautiful to look upon. It showed the three crosses in the background with clouds above and Jesus reaching down from the clouds over the crosses toward a green and flowered mesa. Right there on the mesa was a fawn colored Great Dane looking back toward the viewer as if to say, “I love you. I will be waiting,” and…well, you can look at the picture yourself and draw your own conclusions. When I first saw this, my heart was hit with a mixture of emotions and I got excited. I went to the store’s website and ordered a copy of the painting. They have the painting of the same background with different animals too, but let me say this, I was meant to see this one. I saw in this painting a truth that only the viewer of this painting could see and appreciate. I have made an effort to contact this company because I want to talk to the artist and see what he/she was thinking and see what influenced them to paint this picture. I saw my Zues immediately when I first saw this picture; and since then, I have seen other Dane’s faces in this same painting as I have looked at it admiringly. If anyone wants to know the name of the store, call/text me and leave a message because I screen all my calls to prevent telemarketers.
Lastly, I felt the need to write and share this because someone out there needs to hear it and know they are not alone in missing their loved one(s). Sure, our dogs don’t have the long life a human does, but they love us; and I can’t think of anything better than being loved. Enjoy your April and plant a garden!
By: Joel Allen
November 14, 2024
