“They say in Heaven love comes first.
We’ll make Heaven a place on Earth.”
– “Heaven Is a Place on Earth,” performed by Belinda Carlise, written by Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley.
There may be no pain greater than the loss of a furry friend. Dogs and cats give us unconditional love, and ask only for the same in return.
My fifteen-year-old Labrador retriever, Bugle, passed away on May 8, 2022, after a prolonged illness. He has left an emptiness in our home and vacancy in our hearts. Dogs and cats have that effect when they leave us.
We adopted Bugle in April 2008, when he was only a year old – and a year after our first dog, a fourteen-year-old Manchester terrier named Duke, passed away.
Even though Bugle was only a year old when we adopted him from the Almost Home Foundation, he was very much still a puppy. Duke, on the other hand, had been three and a half years old when he came home with us. Bugle was not yet fully grown, not entirely potty-trained, and had a habit of chewing on things – including a quarter of a book!
What puppy Bugle loved most was playing fetch with his tennis ball, a passion he would maintain up to around his tenth year. I think my favorite memories of Bugle will be of those never-ending games of fetch (just as the long walks I took Duke on are some of my fondest memories of him). It would be 95 degrees in the shade. We would be sweating off pounds. Bugle would be panting up a storm. Yet he would run up with a ball, drop it in front of us, and go out for the catch. For him, it was Heaven on Earth.
Our furry friends are equally Heaven on our Earth. I think God brings dogs and cats into our lives to show us the real meaning of love. If the people of Earth loved one another like we love our furry friends and how they love us in return, the planet would be a less violent place. The dogs and cats are here to teach unconditional love.
Bugle was part of a litter of three. He had a brother named Bagel and a sister named Crumb. I imagine them back together (Bugle no longer suffering the arthritis, cognitive disfunction, and kidney failure that ended his life) running through a beautiful green grassy field.
Bugle (April 2007-May 2022)