Little boy's song

After reading about Will Rogers' comment, "If dogs do not go to heaven, I want to go where they go," I can live with that.

I decided to write this little comment about my beliefs. I am quite certain there are untold numbers of people who feel as I do. I love animals, especially dogs. Most of my pets over the years have been dogs.

All you animal lovers, I am sure you know just how I feel. Occasionally I flip through the TV channels and come to pictures of dogs and cats in the pound. I know it's only a picture, but it strikes me in the heart. I believe you can read a dog's feelings in his eyes. There are those who disagree, but I believe animals show their feelings. There are some who believe animals do not count, but I do.

People have said you should conserve your care for humans, and I agree that humankind should be our first concern. But I know animals do show their feelings.

Which brings me to one little happening many years ago that I remember well. I was walking to school one day and noticed a small boy in the front yard of the house across the street, playing with the ugliest dog I have ever seen. It was very small and had almost no hair, just patches of stringy hairs sticking up.

The little boy was dressed in baggy overalls, no shirt, no shoes, and he had his hands on his hips as he glared at me. Occasionally a bit of poetry comes to me, and on that day these words sprang into my mind:

"I know he ain't much to look at, I know he's got straggly hair.

I know his ears are floppy and I know his head's 'most bare.

I know his color ain't purty, and I know his parents weren't fine.

He's jist plain dog, and I know it, but he's mine! All mine!"

I believe those words could be used to explain unconditional love.

One comment from an email I received tore at my heart, and I don't even know the person who sent it. It was not all about animals, but a collection of unrelated musings. He said he was out in his yard with his dog when it ran into the street and was hit by a car. He picked the dog up in his arms and was hugging it to his chest, and then it licked the tears off his cheek as it died. I can still see the picture in my mind, and still feel the urge to cry.

That was unconditional love.