"Who?  Me?  Did you want something?" — *"Who? Me? Did you want something?"*

What would our world be without our dogs? Less nuts, that's for sure.

Our Jack Russells, especially the male can drive us crazy! When he gets fixated on something, he completely ignores us. We know that it is due to our poor dog parenting but we can call his name numerous times demanding that he comes inside. No response. Eventually he will turn his head and look at us with a glance, "Oh, were you calling me?" Like there are a dozen Marley's from which to choose?

The thing is, when he finally comes in we are exhausted and enraged. How dare he not listen to us? Don't we provide him shelter, food and plenty of toys? He is a dog and we are his masters.

He is infuriating. Of course, by the time he skips upstairs after his non-listening foray (generally this occurs after going outside @ 4am, doing his business and then barking at nothing until I am thoroughly awake from calling him to come in), he is all ready to continue with his normal routine: leap onto our bed, stick his nose under the covers, sidle next to me, place his head in the crook of my arm and sigh. Acting like nothing was ever the matter. He isn't at all bothered by the tone of my voice as I yelled at him to come in. It doesn't bother him that I will kick him out of bed, possibly numerous times. He doesn't hold it against us. He will continue to try and snuggle.

Other times after we have yelled at him we have tried the tactic of completely ignoring him. Doesn't matter, he will still try to engage us with a game of ball or tug of war. He will forage in his toy bucket for just the right chew toy to entice us to play with him. His leaping, turning and rolling suggests that he is so happy to have someone with whom to play and you should be happy too.

Guess that is why I love dogs. They are so forgiving and loving. They do not hold a grudge. They continually remind me to enjoy the present: don't get hung up on the past and don't worry about the future. Nothing in life is ever too much to bear that a good chase of a ball won't cure.

What about you? Do you have any pets? Dogs? Cats? Hamsters? Fish? What have you learned from being around those creatures?

NOTE: On Wednesday, April 12th the Upper Room devotional will be running my devotional entitled, "The Path of Mercy". As readers, you can go online, Click Here and comment on the devotional. I was asked to provide a follow up so you can read that there as well.