Doodles and Jose

I don’t have grandchildren. I have grand-dogs—four of them. Each one is enjoyable, but Doodles and Jose are worth meeting because they’re a study in contrast.

Timid, skittish, Doodles came to our daughter first. A refugee of the underside of a porch in Kentucky, he cowered when we initially saw him. His markings made him handsome, though, and his gentlemanly style charmed us. It took him a while to warm up to our household; it was obvious he’d been abused. For a long time he didn’t want to approach my husband or any other man. Healing takes time.

Doodles is settled in his life now. He perches on the back of the couch to survey his world, he alerts anyone within hearing range about squirrel invasions, and he will snitch trashed cobs of corn for a forbidden treat. There is one thing about Doodles that remains the same and probably always will. Doodles is cautious about life. Can you blame him?

Now Jose is a different animal altogether. He’s a naturalized citizen of the United States. My daughter rescued him in Mexico one hour before he was to be put down. There was nothing wrong with him except that he wasn’t wanted. There were too many stray dogs. But my daughter fell in love with him after he relieved himself on her friend’s shoe. That little Mexican dog and my daughter were made for each other. In a way, he’s not much to look at. He sports a lump and a scar on top of his head, he’s bigger than a Chihuahua should be, and he did have heartworm. Oh, and did I mention that his manners were horrible? Nothing gentlemanly about his dog!

In spite of all these things that anyone might find reprehensible about Jose, he loves life. In fact, we’ve said he’s like a cat in that he’s had so many lives. While Doodles studies what’s going on before making much of a move, Jose thrusts himself onto a scene, leaping into the lap of the first person he can find. If he’s scolded and pushed off, he isn’t the least deterred. It’s almost as if he’s thinking: “If you won’t love me, someone will. And I’m not going to give up until I find that person!”

By now you’re probably wondering that these dogs have to do with this blog. What these two funny dogs remind me of is me. And maybe they remind you of you. No one gets through this life without bruises, cuts, wounds of all kinds, internal, external, and emotional.  We can sit on our “couches” and survey the world like Doodles does, or we can continue to throw ourselves into the life God has given us.  I confess to being more like Doodles, but I want to be like Jose. Nothing gets him down for very long. He just goes pell-mell after life. God is working on me about that. I don’t suppose I’ll ever be quite like Jose, but I want to be. So who are you more like? I told you about me. Now let me know about you—Doodles or Jose?