Doggie Dilemas

If you know me, you know I love my dog.  You also know that she LOVES her family and extremely dislikes strangers.  This has been a big challenge for me.  I always assumed that any dog of mine would naturally love everybody and be very sociable.  He or she would be 100% dog therapy certification material just by being my dog.  That's not exactly how it worked out.  Despite my attempts at early socialization, she became very protective and fearful. People assume that she has a barking problem, but she only barks inappropriately when people come to the house. The rest of the time, she really is an almost perfectly obedient, sweet, and well-trained dog.


I remember when I first got her, I said to a mentor at church "I really don't know why I took this dog right now, it really wasn't convenient.  Maybe God knows I need her."  She said, "Or, maybe God knows the dog needs you."  That threw me for a complete loop at the time, but has been pretty true.
 
Her fear, pretty significant allergies, and some momentary & expensive kidney issues have proven that she might not have been so loved and adored at another home.  That makes me sad, but also makes me love her even more. 
 
I took her to the vet this weekend, which always proves to be fairly traumatic for her.  Normally, they don't even allow me to stay in the room.  This time, she allowed me to muzzle her and it went a little better.  I was so encouraged when the vet said that she is a very good dog that happens to have an extremely submissive personality.  She doesn't understand when to feel safe as well as other dogs do.  I'm sure this is something that a pastor could use for a really good sermon analogy, but for now I'm just so relieved to hear a doggie professional agree that I have a really good dog that just needs a little more love and mercy than others.