Wayne Weekly “Digory K9…always mine”

I’ve had a number of dogs over the years. Family pet dogs, some mutts (now called “mixed breeds”), a collie, two German Shepherds and a Golden Retriever. When older and on my own, I adopted a dog named Angel from a family who was moving. Later on I brought that pal-o-mine into my marriage. After Angel passed, Evie and I took a brief sabbatical from being dog owners, but just for a few years. When we brought a West Highland Terrier that we named Maggie Olivia into our home, to the delight of my two daughters, we once again became delightfully preoccupied with a canine.

Well, as things go, about a year later I found myself in a pet store in the Fingerlakes Mall that was going out of business and all pets had a reduced price tag. I just went into the store for fun…honest, with no intention of finding our Sir Digory Kirk. Digory was a Cairn Terrier. I borrowed the name Digory Kirk from a CS Lewis character in the Chronicles of Narnia series.

I spotted my Sir Digory in a glass cage. It was love at first sight. I called my wife and told her I had come across, merely by accident mind you, the dog that would complete our family. He would be Sir Digory Kirk. Evie agreed to another adoption and as I walked out of the mall, in my arms was to be the only other “guy” in our family and my special friend.

That was ten years ago. This summer it was discovered that Digory had a cancerous tumor on one of his lungs, and it was also discovered that he had been dealing with a genetic defect all his life that made his breathing more difficult than would otherwise be. Digory proceeded to grow worse with breathing becoming a struggle and regular serious bouts of coughing.

The veterinarian felt at the time Digory Kirk’s condition was discovered by x-ray, that the dog was not quite ready for us to say good-bye. We took Sir Digory home with us, prescription to help his breathing in hand, and loved him for the last 5 weeks of his life.

My daughter Jill and I carried our beloved Cairn to the Chestnut Ridge Animal Hospital. That would be Digory’s last journey. Jill and I held Sir Digory Kirk’s head, with cuddles, hugs and kisses, as he slipped away into unconsciousness and moments later out of the land of the living. I took “Kirk” home and my brother and I lowered my dog underneath the yard that he played in, protected and loved.

Many tears, sad moments, and even moments of laughter are had as we reminisce our life with “Diggy”.

I know there are discussions on whether we’ll ever see our pets again. I think most of us would like to think it to be so, though many are in doubt. God’s word mentions nothing specific about the subject. We do know, however that animals are going to be part of our future. Jesus and his armies will return at the Second Advent riding on horses. We do know that someday “the lion will lie down with the lamb.” After the millennium, we hear nothing more of animals. The new heavens and earth account in Revelation 21 does not address the subject.

So what about animals, who can be one-hundred percent sure. We can only speculate.

“And God made the beast of the earth…and God saw it was good.”      Genesis 1:25