Persevering Through Puppyhood

In August of 2009, God tricked me into getting a dog. Now I know that messes with the theology of some of you, but it's true. For over twenty-two years of marriage, I held firm with a " no pets" policy. I didn't want the mess, the smell, the expense, or the inconvenience. But that summer of 2009, God changed my heart.

It started with an overabundance of field mice. We live in the country, and all of a sudden there were way too many mice hopping around outside. This freaked me out, and I complained to my husband. " Boston terriers were bred to be mousers," he replied.

(A little background: my husband is allergic to cats, and he had grown up with Boston terriers, as had his father before him. It had always been Boston terriers or nothing, as far as Steve was concerned.)

Hmm. Suddenly, the thought of a dog prowling the house at night, looking for rodents to pounce on while we slept snug in our beds, seemed awfully appealing. Maybe...

Well, before you knew it, we found a Boston terrier puppy at just the right price. Within twenty-four hours after " Let's take a look," we were the owners of the aptly named Pippin.

I almost instantly regretted getting the dog. Even with hours of poring over Puppies for Dummies and asking everyone I knew how to properly house train, crate, etc., I was still overwhelmed and very unsure as to what I was doing. Two months into puppyhood, I was exhausted and just wanted to get rid of Pippin. My husband was adamantly against giving up. " We made him part of our family," he said. " He's ours."

Upset, I retreated to my Bible, where the following Scripture popped out at me: "A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel" (Proverbs 12:10). Okay, Lord, I get it. Repentant, I turned my face toward loving my pet.

It's been a year and a half, and Pippin has needed more visits to the vet than I ever thought possible, he has no interest in mice, and instead of doing guard duty in the house at night, he's snuggled deep under my covers. But he's become a member of the family. We love him deeply; he's a great companion; he's fuzzy and adorable; my husband plays ball with him; my son, when he's home from college, carries him around like a baby; my thirteen-year-old daughter just recently referred to him as " her best friend"; and on and on.

Perseverance. It's not always pretty at the time but the end result is worth it.

Deborah Galiley is a messianic rabbi's wife from Utica, New York. She is the author of three biblical fiction novels—Polished Arrows, Yohana, and Seeking Paradise (OakTara). www.greatbiblefiction.com