People studying for a Masters of Divinity degree, in order to become the ordained pastor of a church, are required to work as a chaplain in a hospital setting for 400 hours. I was fortunate to do my Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at two sister hospitals with trauma-level ER’s. This is where I first saw “therapy dogs” in action. At first, I was surprised to see them with their trainer/owner in the nurse’s stations. Then I was blessed to see the impact of one therapy dog on a patient who was in the behavior health center after a suicide attempt. This patient was totally shut down and would not talk to any human. I was visiting other patients in the common room of the center when a therapy dog team arrived… a woman with a beautiful Collie. And the patient immediately perked up and began interacting with the dog. They had met before so the patient was talking to the dog and having it perform tricks. The patient was petting and hugging the dog, and was all smiles. The transformation was amazing! And in that moment, I vowed to one day have a dog who could bring that much joy to others! At the time, I had Kaicee, who might have been a good candidate if she was younger and properly trained, but I knew this would not be a good fit for her now. And, I did not have the time to train a dog while still in seminary. When I was in my first call as a pastor, and Shadow adopted me, I quickly realized he was a one-person dog and would never be a candidate for therapy dog training. So several years went by before the right dog came into my life.
Since Shadow died on Christmas morning… and it was also a Sunday, all of the shelters were closed. And, they were closed on Monday Dec 26 as well. I spent the rest of Christmas mourning Shadow.
On Monday, I realized that this was the first and ONLY day in the 50+ years of my life that I had lived alone!!! That was not going to work for me. So, I started looking at photos of available dogs that the shelter had posted on Facebook. When I saw a photo of a black Labrador named Rickey, my gut said, “that’s your dog!” I was at the shelter on Tuesday when they opened. They had no idea which dog I was talking about, so they sent one of the attendants with me to walk past all the cages to see if I could find the one I wanted. It was so sad seeing how many dogs needed homes. Most were barking and they broke my heart. But, I wasn’t going to give in until I had a chance to meet “Rickey.” Finally, I found him. He wasn’t barking… just sat there looking sad. The attendant put a leash on him and let us take some time together in a small yard outside of the building. He was a young dog, but not a puppy. They told me he had been picked up as a stray about 6 weeks earlier. It was obvious that he had some obedience training because he walked fairly well on a leash and knew how to sit and stay. The attendant said they probably kept him so long because they believed that his owners would be looking for him. That’s one of the reasons his photo was on Facebook. But, no one had shown interest until I arrived. I believed that he had been there… waiting for me to rescue him. God does things like that! I said, “I want him.” So, they had the vet look him over and deem him healthy, guessing that he was about a year old. Then they gave him his shots and neutered him, both requirements for any dog leaving the shelter. On Wednesday, Dec 28, I brought proof that my landlord allowed pets, paid $25 and took him home. That was the best $25 I have ever spent!
I called my daughter to tell her that I had a new black Lab but I needed a name for him. Rickey was not going to do it for me. My daughter said, why don’t you call him “Bo?” She remembered a black puppy we had briefly when she was a child. I had rescued him in a K-Mart parking lot. We already had Sheba, and didn’t not have the time or the space for a Great Dane puppy! So, Bo did not live with us long. But I liked the name Bo so I adopted it with the spelling “Beau.” It did not take Beau long to come when called by that name. And that’s how our life together began.
Next, becoming a team. Stay tuned!
Grace Notes 