Cherished family members, PETS

[charlene]

Our Dogs let us live in their home. We love our 4pound Katee and her 7pound half sister, Holli. They are a smile constantly, and much laughter often.

Share about a pet/s, past, current. The Ministry of Healing---PG-315.

The intelligence displayed by many dumb animals approaches so closely to human intelligence that it is a mystery. The animals see and hear and love and fear and suffer. They use their organs far more faithfully than many human beings use theirs. They manifest sympathy and tenderness toward [316] their companions in suffering. Many animals show an affection for those who have charge of them, far superior to the affection shown by some of the human race. They form attachments for man which are not broken without great suffering to them.

[Laurie Mosher]

  Hello ALL my "family"

     We have several pets too--Max "THE" dog, and "Squeaker" the cat. And we love them both. And I guess it is safe to say they are "spoiled". But their personalities are quite different. Max follows me around "
like a dog!". I know he is one, but he thinks he's a person...very trusting.
  Squeaker, on the other hand, likes to be in charge...loveable on her terms....and likes her space.

  Kind of reminds me of humans (us) and our heavenly Father.

  We need to be more like "Max" and trust God to lead us in everything, and if we exercise more trust in Him, we will follow Jesus where He leads us too.

  Keep "the" faith!
Br. Laurie

[Laurie Mosher]

  Dear All,

  This morning as I was looking out the window at 8AM, I noticed a Blue Jay  sitting on top of a maple tree...doing nothing but looking. The other Blue Jays were "pigging out" eating the sunflower seeds in the bird feeders.. Soon another Blue Jay flew up in the tree and "traded places" with the first one...I thought that was strange, so I went over and looked high in the sky...A Bald Eagle was circling overhead.

 ..The Blue Jays had a sentinel watching for danger at ALL times. There were NO foolish bluejays, and NONE were asleep!

  Now I believe there is a great object lesson we can learn from the creatures and birds of God's nature - and THIS ONE WAS FOR ME.

  The parallel I see is this:

 This "little forum" we have is like the sentinel in the tree, watching for danger...looking for the Laurie's, Charlene's Avalee's , Tami's and everyone else who needs edification and reassurance that someone does indeed care for them and their spiritual welfare.

  And as frustrating as it gets on the "other" forum, WE still need to look for travellers, who are seeking for life eternal, and looking for the waymarks.

  May we never weary standing up for truth, no matter how frustrating or lonely it is sometimes!

  Gerry Waggoner, Charlene, Richard,Avalee  and Tami-
Thank you each for praying for me...it has been an interesting experience-  and isn't it amazing? "A little bird did tell me!"

  ...I just pray that our God will give us each the strength and power to RIGHTLY  REPRESENT Him and His truth before all the forum members. I believe that there are still alot of other "Tami's and Laurie's who need help. We CANNOT let them down!

 1 Corinthians 4:9  ":For  we are made A SPECTACLE UNTO THE WORLD, and TO ANGELS, and  TO MEN."

 We can only go "forward on our knees"!

  Keep "the" faith

      Laurie

[charlene]

Dear Laurie,  
Regarding the other forum:
You are right of course... Jesus did 'come apart, and rest awhile'. my problem is I reach a place where I want to scold, and feel anger not because words are directed at me but because I see a denying of my God and His truth, so many of you have made the truth so simple to understand...I find myself talking to the computer out loud saying " why can't you understand, it is so clear!!!!"  

I know I am not alone, you have all experienced the same thing.  Laurie, this is a work to be done, we each have a different approach and many readers are silent listeners...I will again try, now I need a 'posting rest',  but not a rest from praying for the forums. Please keep me in your prayers, I need His stength every moment.

Thank you for the Blue Jays and their lesson.
There are many souls waiting to meet Jesus. May we be a willing instrument in His hands.

Thank you Jesus
charlene

[charlene]

Duchess, our female Boxer had been a mother twice. Having 11 puppies the first time and 12 puppies the next. My children were small and loved to feed the wiggly hungry ones that could not find the dinner plate. In fact there was only 9 dinner plates available.

When we moved to the country and got involved in rescuing orphaned lambs, Duchess adopted them as her own children. She jumped into the play pen, we had for them in front of the fire place, she cleaned them up, slept with them and even tried to feed them. She still had 9 dinner plates but nothing on the plate, but that did not keep them from trying or her allowing them to try.  I love the photos I have of the scenes of her playing mother to these foreigners.  

It reminds me of One that was willing to clean me up, and even though I  was a foreigner, was willing to adopt me into His family, provide for me the Bread of  Life and Water from the Fountain of Life, maintain me till I may mature to a full grown Child of the King.

God Bless,
charlene

[Kay]

For the first time in our married life, we are without a dog, and I find myself longingly wanting a wagging tail to greet me when I walk in the house.  But as in all things, God has a time, and right now, it isn't the right time. We are enjoying deer in abundance, who enjoy munching on the wild grasses just outside our patio doors, the wild rabbits love living in the hay in our barn, the bald eagles soar overhead, looking for lunch, and the coyotes sing to us beautiful songs almost nightly.  When God has furnished us with all these freebies, how can I scare them all away with a store-bought pup?  Thank you, Father, for supplying even more than I need...

[Kay]

...added to the above is the fact that we have three donkeys (one born Friday, 3/17/2000), a pony, and two llamas.  When would I have time for a dog?

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Kay

[Dwight Hornbacher]

Dear Fellow Pet Owners,

My wife and I have six dogs, 10 cats, and 35 Arabian horses.  We live on a ranch.  As you can imagine, it can be a zoo.  But we love all of our animals.  Our biggest fear comes when we sell some of our horse stock.  Our horses have only known love, and we want to be sure that they go to homes where they will receive the same treatment.  

We also have horses on our place that we have rescued from starvation.  Tarfaran, one of our rescued Arabian Stallions, is almost completely blind because of mal-nutrition, and he has a hip that was dislocated and never repaired.  It is calcified and cannot be fixed.  

But his handicaps do not keep him from exploring wherever he wants.  He trusts us implicitly to lead him.  We let him out of his enclosure to graze, and if we don't close the front gate, he will go out onto the country lane in front of our place and walk down to the neighbor's hay field and graze.  
The first time he did it scared us.  We now make sure that the front gate is locked when we let him out.  But he has a knack for finding a way to the neighbor's hay field.  Our neighbor thinks this horse is amazing knowing what the horse has come through and doesn't mind when he comes to graze, but it does makes us a little unhappy.

I think you would enjoy the love and trust that is seen among this group.  It works for us.

Aren't animals great.

Yours in Christ,
Dwight

[This message has been edited by Dwight Hornbacher (edited 03-25-2000).]

[Laurie Mosher]

  Amen Charlebe,Kay and Dwight. Thank You for sharing the lives of God's creatures with the rest of us.
Kay, you are correct in saying a dog will scare the animals away.But Max, the dog can't keep up with the squirrels. I counted 5 on the front lawn and tree just outside my front door, and another 7 at the back of the house. He (the dog) likes to chase them, but has never caught one yet.usuallly they give him an awlful scolding. I love having "wild" animals (little) just outside my door.
 Praise the Lord for His little object lessons of nature!
  Keep "the" faith!
 Br. Laurie    

[gorazd]

 I have a cat named Beatrice, and she is »spoiled« too. I guess she realy is inteligent compared to other cats: when I release her outside the house and after some time she wants to go inside again, she calls me beneath my window, and I go and let her in through the front door, which is at the other side of the house (so Bea cries to the window and then goes waiting around the corner, and if nothing happens, comes again back to the window and cries...). She learned this »rule« - if she were scientist this would sound something like: »When I cry beneath this window, in 90% of the cases the doors gets opened by gorazd and I can run into the house« - and she now uses what she learned well.

I wonder if this is exception or do your cats do something like this too?

She also likes to sleep at my feet at night, and she realy likes to be in a room when I pray - I think she always gets relaxed during my prayer - if at the beggining of the prayer she was hanging around the room not knowing what to do, at the end of the prayer she either sleeps or is still at some corner, looking satisfied. But sometimes it happens that she disturbes my prayer and has to go out of the room.

God also teaches me through observing wild animals. There is a lot of them around here for I live on a country side too. People who live in the cities miss very much when not recieving these lectures from the book of nature.

Bro Gorazd.

[This message has been edited by gorazd (edited 03-26-2000).]

[tami strand]

Dear Brothers and Sisters, really enjoy the stories, animals are such a blessing and a comfort. We have so much to learn from these creatures. Dwight your story aboout your horses, reminded me of my childhood growing up on a farm, rather an animal menagerie. I had a special black angus calf given to me when I was nine. Her name was tarbaby. For the 9 years that we had her, she would daily meet me at the gate to walk me in from school. I used to go lay beside her in the field, with my head on her big belly, listening to all the sounds. She would lick me like I was her calf.  I have had many animals over the years, Tarbaby was special because she Mothered me so, during some very difficult years.

What a gift these friends are in our lives. God is so good!

Currently we have two dogs Goldie the Lab and Freckles a Cocker Spaniel mix. And one very old cat with many names. And I must mention my lost cat "Greg", he was lost in a move 8 months ago, I continue to run ads hoping someone has adopted him and will return my
beloved friend.

God Bless,
Tami

[charlene]

This thread is fun to read...We should all have fond memories of our various pets.

I remember visiting my grandma and grandpa when they lived way out in boony land in Oregon. Grandpa had a milk cow that he also used for his plowing and wouldn't you know she was frienly enough for me to ride along. So when Grandpa plowed with her pulling the old hand plow...I went along for the ride. A great memory. When he milked her in the late afternoon, the cats and kittens arrived and he would shoot a stream of milk into each little mouth.
Thank you Jesus.

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charlene

[charlene]

I thought all might be interested in these words of wisdom from the inspired words of Ellen White.

Manuscript Releases Volume Five==-PG- 218

    "We see something which teaches us a lesson in almost everything around us. As we journeyed along we met a smooth,  cever-looking dog; as he trotted along, we noticed a large, fierce, savage-looking dog standing by the roadside looking very fierce, waiting the coming of the clever-looking
animal, ready to pounce upon him. We thought we would watch the result. Soon the little dog that was trotting along noticed his fierce companion and slacked his pace. He seemed to understand his enemy and he dared not run by, but in a most humble manner crawled along upon the ground. Thus he continued to crouch and crawl until he had come up to the fierce-looking dog, who
immediately pounced upon him. The dog would not battle but rolled upon the ground in a begging manner. The big dog could not fight alone. He left the clever, pleading animal, who was still afraid of irritating him. So he
walked along slowly, acting as though he wished to run but did not dare to. At length he increased his pace a little until he was sure he could outrun the other big dog; then he ran along as fast as he could go, looking back to see if the other followed. If human beings would only manifest such humility
under injustice as this dumb creature, how many unhappy quarrels might be saved.--Ms 6, 1859, p. 1. (Diary, April 1 to June 30, 1859.)

God Bless,

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charlene

[Nichole]

It's really neat to read about everyone's pets here...I'm very jealous of Dwight, with his 35 HORSES!!!  I have always loved horses and riding, in fac just watching horses is wonderful.  But alas, I am stuck in an apartment for now.  No room for horses here.  Maybe someday.  If not here then in heaven  

I do have two cat "children"--Todd and Libby.  I love them to pieces.  I would like to think they love me back.  Todd was a stray cat who used his charm and good looks to find his way to us, he's very outgoing and loves everyone.  He acts more like a dog than a cat sometimes.  He very much enjoys sitting on my lap (making if difficult to type) while I'm on the computer.  I think he likes TRO.  Libby's very pretty and shy around strangers, although she's really  loving.  It just takes her a while to warm up to other people.  

They really make me marvel at how God created them; how they're different yet similar to us.  Just like humans, I can't imagine how a creature as beautiful and graceful as a cat could "evolve" from slime.  Oh well.  I guess some people can.  That's a whole other topic!  

 ~Nichole    

[Michelle]

I, too, was thinking of how I'd like just one of those 35 horses, though I never had a lot of luck with Arabs.  Reading through this has been a little bittersweet, because though we have two wonderful little boys, we have no pets right now.  When we moved, we were unable to bring our two cats with us, and we believe that at least one son is allergic to cats and the other has signs of developing asthma, so those are out (*sigh*).  No yard for a dog, either. (nor a lot of desire for a wannabe yapper dog)

Also, the last horse I had (I sold her about 1 1/2 years ago) had to be put to sleep last month, and that's been pretty sad.  I had her since she was born in 87, but wasn't in the area anymore and couldn't afford to move her from my parents' house, so sold her.  I understand about wanting to make sure the horse goes to a good home.  We were very careful who we sold her to, and they were making great progress in dressage (she was 1/2 Arab, 1/2 Saddlebred--stunning horse!).

I, too, had a blind horse.  He was an Appy and they tend to have eye problems.  I had had him for about 5 years before the vision problems became acute, and we knew each other so well that we continued to ride him even after he was totally blind.  We would say "up" or "down" if the road was changing, and he would never stumble or falter.  What a sweet horse.  Alas, he, too, had to be put to sleep.

I don't know what it will be like in heaven, but I've always dreamed about the horse I will have there, if that's something that happens.  My grandma and mom and I have all talked about horses there and how wonderful it will be to ride--maybe fly?  It's so sad down here to put them to sleep--such faithful friends.

[charlene]

dear Nickole and Michelle,

One thing we know for sure, we will never loose our pets in the new earth. No putting to sleep the fuzzy or furry friends.

my young children had ponies  and when older a horse was in the family. My son today would not be without a horse [if he can help it] his exposer to them when young, gave him the love for horses. We always had dogs too and that is a big part of his life also...he is a dog trainer.  Isn;t God good to have given us these wonderful creatures, even in this sinful world. we can not imagine what he has planned for us in Heaven and beyond,, but never any good-byes.                    

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charlene

[Gerry C. Wagoner]

I can't hardly get used to the idea of animals in the house.  Friends of ours have 6 cats in the house (her doings).  Eating over there is a combination of avoiding hairballs and picking the stuff out your meal (gagg).  On occasions, there is a land mine of throw-up on the floor and sometimes on the kitchen counter.

I guess they enjoy the animals, but it kind of grosses my family out.  We generally avoid her dishes at potluck.  I've noticed that they (our friends) seem to have a large amount of colds and sickness throughout the year.  Could it be because the home interior is less healthy?  

I know Ellen counseled us to remove mold from our homes.

Dwight I hope you have a Bobcat, or at least a Massey with a loader .  We boarded horses when I was young--at one time we had 13.  I got a lot of shovel time..

In summary animals are great, but I believe they were meant to be outside.  My opinion--maybe I'm mistaken.

gcw

[charlene]

Gerry,  I can sympathies with you, sounds like this was a challenging situation....however, pet owners don't have to have 'unruly children'.

I would not have dogs, unless they can be inside pets. They are spoiled yes, but such a delight. Besides being company, their love and loyalty seems to exceed that of humans.

I see them concerned if i am upset. If for any reason I cry...they know it and jump on my lap to comfort me. I also see them following me with their eyes, everywhere I go, I know it is because I love and feed them...and this makes me think about Jesus, who will feed me from His word to lead me if I keep my eyes on Him. My eyes should follow Him wherever He leads...that I might follow.

We can let pets abuse us, yes, and that is sad, and not needed to gain their love, they like structure like children do.  When the day is done and these two little dogs are asleep on my lap.....we are all content. My experience has always been very good with my pets. [other that loosing them when old.] I am Happy we will have tame animals in the New earth.....but i still think i will want ones that can climb up on my lap to be loved.

God Bless

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charlene

[Liane H]

I never saw this, but it has come back for some reason.  Because I am hearing impaired I have what you call a Signal Dog. Her name is TeePee and she is an Australian Shepherd. While most Aussies can be a handful, because she was the runt of the litter, she was more shy.   She has been trained to be aware of signs and sounds that I do not hear.  Such as door knocking, a phone ringing, etc.  I would be lost without her.  Alas, she is now blind and 13 years old and I am having to take care of her more now as she still feels that she must do for me. I do not keep up her skills for the phone, but she still is a good hearing dog.

She will not back away from anything.  Still wants to go for car rides and walks.  Goes out to her yard on her own.  I have had to watch her going around to make sure she does not get hurt and have put barracades in alot of places to help her avoid being injured.

It is unfortunate that the lady who use to train your own pet has retired, if I wanted to get another signal dog I would have to take whatever the signal dog programs would give me, and I love Aussies.  

She knows when she is working and she know when it is her time. Since she is a house dog she has run of the house while I am work.  When I first got my computer, she was very upset, because it was taking away from her time with me, she thought, but she has since learned that I have not turned her in for the computer.  I just watch less TV, which is good.

Since I cannot use her in the outside world like I did before, I am a little more insecure than I was before with my hearing impairment. I never realized how much I was relying on her for the definitions of my surroundings and awareness of those around me. It is not always easy because many people do not understand the role of a signal dog as they do for a seeing eye dog. And the stores not understanding the law of signal dogs has caused many uncomfortable situations. Educations is the key, but it has to be done one at a time.

Liane

   

[Clive Nevell]

We have some pets and it is amazing how they respond to you, it is often with love in their eyes they look up at you and nearly speak to you. We had a calf that was raised on the bucket and in the paddock she would follow me around like a dog.
But this morninmg I could not help see how animals look after their young. A cow had a calf last Sabbath and this morning as I went to check on her and see if the calf was OK, well everthing seemed Ok except the calf was not insight, the cow came into the bail and was milked out as the new calf could not drink it all. Soon as the cow went out she went down to the creek, so I thought the calf must be down there and sure enough she had put the calf under some branches for its protection and done it in such away that she must have done it by nature. It was then that I thought of the way Jesus leaves the 99 safe in the fold and looks for the lost. There are so many lessons we can learn from animals, it is I believe why Christ spoke about them so much. Parables like the lost sheep, we are to be fishers of men, and many more.
Even in calving they go and find a place away from the rest of the animals and are left alone while the birth takes place and then afterwards come around and seem to be introduced to the new offspring. It is just lovely to watch them as they start a new family with the protection they give each other.

Clive