Blondie

When Jonathan was very young, one of his therapists said that a pet would be very good for him. He went on to say that studies had shown that interaction between a child with a damaged nervous system and a pet, like a cat or a dog would help promote a healthy nervous system in the child. We thought that would be a good investment for Jonathan, who suffers from hydrocephalous.

We began looking for a Labrador Retriever, since they are very child friendly dogs. Not too long after that, we found a family selling pure bred Golden Retrievers, and they wanted $5000 pesos, or about $500 dollars for each dog. That was well beyond our budget, so we decided to wait.

About a month later, close to Christmas, we called back, and found out that the family had sold all of their dogs except for one; she was three months old now, and they couldn’t get rid of her. We offered them $1000 pesos for her, about $100 dollars, and they accepted that. Our Golden Retriever, which we named Blondie, would prove to be a very worthy dog.

Now if a dog is called a Retriever, well, then, it should retrieve. We wanted her to live up to her name, so we took Blondie into our backyard, and I threw a tennis ball. She went, got it and brought it back. That was exciting, so I did it again. Sure enough, Blondie went and got the ball. Suddenly, everyone in the family wanted to throw the ball, so we took turns. Blondie quickly learned that Jonathan couldn’t throw very far, and she would intercept his throw in the air, which brought great delight to Jonathan.

Nearly every day for years, Jonathan and I would play catch with Blondie for a few minutes, and, slowly but surely, Jonathan would advance in some physiological way. Finally, when he was three and a half years old, Jonathan started walking. He was also able to throw the tennis ball much further. Blondie now had to work to play catch with Jon.

The Bible says in Revelation 4:11, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created.” Blondie was created to give pleasure to God. I think that in helping Jonathan in his rehabilitation, Blondie fulfilled that function in her life, and we were privileged to have her in our family these past nine years. This past week, Blondie started acting very sick. She wouldn’t eat, she was very sluggish, and she only wanted to sit under the shade-tree by our back door and rest.

Today we took Blondie to the veterinarian. We were told that she had developed a large tumor in her abdomen, her heart was close to collapse, and she had a large and fast growing tumor behind her left eye. We made the decision to put her to sleep.

The Bible tells us some interesting stories about animals: Two cows left their calves to pull the ark of God’s covenant to Israel. (1 Sam. 6:7-12) A donkey carrying a rather wicked prophet of God spoke to him and refused to go forward, sparing the prophet’s life. (Num. 22:23-27) A dove left a place of safety to pluck an olive branch from a tree. (Gen. 8:11) A donkey and her colt that had never been ridden carried the Son of God. (Mat. 21:2) It seems that animals in the Bible obeyed God and did His will. I think Blondie fits into that same category, and I hope she has been rewarded for that service.