Update — Laudie: abused, shot, poisoned (an analogy)

When she wandered up the mountain the other day, I thought she was just cold to the bones, shivering, shaking, even quite violently, the way she was. And it was getting down to about freezing on those nights. But today was pretty warm, and the sun was out, and although getting plenty of attention and food, she was still shaking. She’s been terribly abused I think. That reverses my first impresssions of her. And there’s more evidence of abuse.

She can shy away, after all, depending on the circumstances. For instance, I took Jenny the Jeep down the mountain to drag the neighbor’s tractor out of the marshy bit of the pond. I opened the back of Jenny, hoping that the dog would jump in and enjoy the ride down. Instead, she slinked away to the far side of the hermitage. Again and again. Strange, thought I. I bet the first and last time she was in a vehicle was when she had been uncerimoniously dumped.

She’s got a bad bruise on one leg, which I hadn’t noticed before. She also has what looks like — I mean, I don’t know, but… — what looks to be a gunshot wound of a bullet which grazed the top of her shoulders. Perhaps she was dumped on the road and then shot. Well, the owner wasn’t a very good aim.

Then… then… she went down the road today and ate what she shouldn’t have eaten. Silly dog. She’s now on a course of K-1 for the next 25 days. I crush that and mix it in with a bit of yukky cat food. She gobbles it up. So, O.K. She’ll be fine.

Finally, her name. No one likes “Doggie”. The neighbor  suggested something, and then we came up with “Laudie” for her name. Lauds, of course, is the name for morning prayer said by all religious and priests and many laity. To laud means to praise. All creatures of our God and King praise the Lord by being the creatures they are meant to be. That reminds us of the praise that justly should be rendered to the Most High by the rest of us. The “-ie” suffix is because she’s a girl. Often, the mornings here sport a blazing sky, kind of like the color of her coat of fur. So, O.K. It’s Laudie.

She’s still growing, I think, and so eats way more than her tuppence worth. I got a 50 pound bag of dog food at the super-discount supermarket today. I think I’ll have to get her some flea powder as well, not to mention a collar and some kind of leash. She’ll have to get, um, fixed, and that would be the only way to get her into the vehicle. If that were not done, it would get quite dangerous around here. All the huge male dogs within 50 miles would be here at a certain time of year. We don’t want that. Yikes! I already had one rooster killed by transmitter collared hound dogs.

Anyway, Laudie is most welcome, especially with surmising a bit more of her past history. Yikes! She loves it here, and I’m happy with that.

An analogy: Laudie, however much abused she was, is super-willing to be accepted, to be loved. It’s a risk, and she shakes with nerves, but she’s willing. She’s come to the right place at the right time. Soon, she’ll loose her nervousness and enjoy herself here more than ever.

We’re not always so willing, are we? We risk becoming cynical. The Lord would never want that from us. We think we are protecting ourselves, but we are only prolonging whatever hard knocks we’ve had in life. Having a bit of wisdom is one thing. Retreating and kicking ourselves is another thing altogether.

It’s all very much the other way around in the spiritual life: not only do we expect to be crucified, but we welcome this, knowing that, in this way, we are knocking people off their cynicism, their shoving a spear into the Heart of the ever so dead Christ on the cross, so that they then say, when all has been said and done, “Truly this was the Son of God!” and “Praise the Lord!” — which brings us back to Laudie and her lesson of openness and trust, which she teaches as just one more of the creatures of our God and King. “Laudie”… Yes, praise the Lord!

UPDATE: 7:45 PM 27 September — I think she has a bit of a fever. She’s slowed down remarkably. That’s to be expected, I suppose. I’m guessing that the K-1 is doing it’s job. I got her a leash and collar to bring her to be fixed. I might be able to get her spayed for free.

UPDATE: 8:25 AM 28 September — Mange? Sigh. But, we’ll deal with that too if that’s the case.