I Hope Dogs Can Talk In Heaven

I've been getting a lot of good, quality face time with my dog. Because it's so cold out, below zero, I've been carrying her places, then setting her down so she can go to the bathroom, then picking her up. Her feet get so cold that sometimes she's mincing around and acts like she can hardly stand it. So if I'm carrying her, that's for her benefit as far as the discomfort, and also to my benefit because I hate to see anything suffer.

In all this quality time, I'm busy reassuring her that she's a good girl and commiserating in a gentle way about how cold it is. My face is right up to the back of her head and sometimes her ear. So it's an interesting fellowship. The longer I carry her the harder I breathe, so it sounds like I'm really putting some exertion into making sure she's got all the comforts.

We have lots of other quality time. She's usually on my bed till I fall asleep, then she's off in her own little place on the futon. So it's a very special relationship.

All that to say, I hope dogs can talk in heaven. Because it bugs me that dogs can't talk. The whole silent treatment is almost too much. I would like to have a few words. So let's say dogs can talk in heaven. I look forward to talking it over with my dog, about all the winter mornings and nights, and what we went through.

Have you ever heard that poem "Footprints In The Sand"? Most people have. It's corny. But you can think of it, the same thing, with man and dog and all the snow. "Two sets of footprints in the snow...One, a big pair of galoshes. The other, four little mincing canine tracks. Then, suddenly, the snow reveals nothing but one set of footprints, just the big galoshes, apparently depressed in the snow like an extra quarter of an inch. Why, thinks the dog, did you abandon me at those terrible times on the path, the coldest days of my life? I didn't abandon you, dear dog. It was those times I was carrying you! Anyway, think of it, if I abandoned you, wouldn't there be your own little canine footprints left behind and my big galoshes running the opposite direction?"

We're in for tonight. Thank goodness. She did her business in a good way, so we didn't have to be out there forever. With all the sniffing she does sometimes, you can't depend on her getting done before her feet get too cold.