ZIGGY: I Was Guided by My Angel Dog

In the fall of 2002 my wife and I were going through the beginning stages of a divorce and, as you can imagine, emotions were running high. I wasn’t sleeping well and had gotten up very early one Saturday morning with nothing much to do but finish the book I was reading. It was called, In the Company of Newfies and was written by a Newfoundland breeder named Rhoda Lerman.  It’s a great collection of stories about the author’s love of Newfoundlands. At the time I had the privilege of sharing life with a Bernese Mountain Dog I called Ziggy. As dogs can be, he was a constant companion who showed me the highest degree of unconditional love one could hope for. He was also a consummate comedian who could make me laugh out loud with s single look. Lerman describes in her book the life lessons she has learned from these amazing dogs. Her stories can move the reader from moments of tears to those of laughter in a heartbeat. Reading her book at that time in my life proved to be extremely therapeutic – almost as much as having Ziggy. I told him more than once that when I grow up I want to be just like him.  

In the Company of Newfies by Rhoda Lerman

Later that morning, once the sun came up I decided to drive over to the NYS Fair Grounds.  I had noticed in the morning paper that the AKC dog show was underway. I hoped to see the Berners showing. As I was walking around somewhat forlornly with my Big Dog tee shirt on, a woman approached me and told me I looked lost. She very kindly asked if she could help me. She had no idea how lost I was, but just told her I was looking for the Berners. She let me know they had already shown but the Newfies were starting soon and they were a close match. I told her that by coincidence (something I no longer believe in) that while I was more of a Berner fan, I had just finished reading a book about Newfies.  She asked me the name of the book so I told her and asked if she had ever heard of it. She said she had and in fact she was the author!! So there in front of me was Rhoda herself. I actually choked back a tear and resisted the temptation to throw my arms around her and give her a hug. Something to me she might not understand. I did however tell her how much her book meant to me and thanked her for introducing herself to me that morning.

So did Ziggy in his silent way direct my eyes to the article in the paper about the dog show? Or was it his inspiration that led me to wear a Big Dog tee shirt to the show, thus attracting Rhoda to approach me and introduce herself to me? I know I have my answer to those questions and I will let you decide for yourself.     

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Jeff Crouse, Author

In everyday, ordinary life there are extraordinary things that happen. Journey through the stories provided by Jack McAfghan's readers, friends and guest contributors who remind us of the magic that happens when we love and care for a four-legged best friend. If you have a story to share that is 1000 words or less, please message us through this page or write us at Kate@KateMcGahan.com

  Personal photos to support the story are welcomed. We look forward to hearing from you.

Did He Know I Loved Him?

Dear Jack, 

It's 4am and I cant sleep. I really want to know what my boy went through at the end, not that it will help or maybe it would. I just want to hear that he didn't suffer too much. 

I Love You and I Know You Love Me Too

Dear One,

The fact that you were there with him offsets any suffering your boy may have had. Being surrounded by love always alleviates pain and suffering. When we love, our endorphins kick in. Endorphins are the natural antidepressants that are created in the natural pharmacy in our bodies. When we are loved, we are more immune to feeling the effects of discomfort. Some of us choose to die alone. Some of choose to be at the side of the one who loved us. Just like people, animals are all different and they have the ability to make some choices such as this. 

His suffering was short-lived compared to the life he lived and loved with you....and all of that life is but a blink of an eye when compared to the eternal life he is living now. It was just a tiny moment in time. You'll see when you are together again with him. You'll see how it all works and you will look back and say how foolish you were to worry so. But worry, it's the human condition. It cannot be helped. Worry is your teacher. 

Did he know you loved him?  The answer to this is the non-prescription drug that brings peace to everyone. Ahhhh, to know they were loved! We all need to know we are loved and we need to believe that those we love the most know that they are loved in return. Love is the drug. Love is the key. Love is the answer. Love is the question. Love is the secret. Love is everything. While you continue to suffer, he has moved beyond suffering. He is not suffering now. When we enter Rainbow Bridge ---and ultimately Heaven--- any of the "bad" memories leave us. The physical scars and feelings heal instantaneously and if he hurts, it's only because you are still unhappy. 

The best thing you can do, now that you know he knows you love him, is to love yourself. Love yourself so much that there is no room for guilt and second-guessing.  

LOVE,

Jack

The Jack McAfghan Trilogy is available on Amazon Worldwide in Print and on Kindle. Click here for more information! Our story is your story too. 💖

Is it a Sign or is it Just a Feather?

Birds have be known since the dawn of time to be the spirits of those who have moved from this world into the next. They flit, they fly, they catch our eye. All birds are angels and they are are all working on Our Behalf.  

Sometimes it's just a molten feather on the trail but regardless, it's there for a reason. Someone is going to come along in this very place, in this very spot. Perhaps they are looking for a sign and haven't seen one in a very long time. Perhaps they are thinking of something that bothers them or maybe they are grieving a loss. Suddenly, "Look! A feather!" and they completely forget what was troubling them.

It's always By Design to shift your mood. To surprise you and to get your mind off of what you were thinking about. If you have hope, the feathers are fulfilling their purpose. If you have no hope, then... they are just a feather. 

There is always more than meets the eye. The key is to keep working on your Hope. Your Faith. It will show you a beautiful new world if you are only open to it. 

Learn to recognize the signs in Book 2, "The Lizard from Rainbow Bridge." 

Open up your world. Find the hope again. 

Click HERE to find Lizard on Amazon. 

I Seem to Have Loved You in Numberless Forms....

I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times...

In life after life, in age after age, forever.

My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,

That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,

In life after life, in age after age, forever.

Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, it's age old pain,

It's ancient tale of being apart or together.

As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,

Clad in the light of a pole-star, piercing the darkness of time.

You become an image of what is remembered forever.

You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.

At the heart of time, love of one for another.

We have played along side millions of lovers,

Shared in the same shy sweetness of meeting,

the distressful tears of farewell,

Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you

The love of all man's days both past and forever:

Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.

The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours -

And the songs of every poet past and forever.” 

~RABINDRANATH TAGORE~

~Rabindranath Tagore, Selected Poems

There's a Reason for the Longing in Your Heart ...

A famous poet (I don't remember which one) once said something like "Love only seems to disappear so that you will seek it again."  It's kind of what I'm saying.

Life is too short  -- and too long -- to live without love. I love you and it would be sad for me to think of you going through life in sadness and longing when the whole point of life is LOVE.  A soul was meant to love and love is all there is. Don't spend the rest of your life looking backward when love is waiting ahead of you. Allow yourself to heal and you will once again experience a love like you've never had before.

Life is the school. Love is the lesson. Love is the Teacher too.

All I Have to Do is Dream....

"She had a dream last night. In her distress she turned and I was there and then she knew she'd be okay.

We use dreams to connect with you. We find our way into your unconscious mind to remind you that we're always there. I know it's hard to believe right now, but someday you will find that nothing of the world was really worth being so upset about. One day you will wake up in Paradise just like she woke up from her dream today. You will see that it was all just a silly ride!

Hang in there. It will fly by in the blink an eye. Don't simply endure it; find a way to enjoy it. I'll see you in your dreams... and on the other side when the time is right for you to return to me."

From: "Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life with my Master"

Dreams are awesome, aren't they?  Sometimes they are just a mixed up bunch of "debris" that we are sorting out (we often decide whether to store things in our short term or long term memory when we are dreaming -- so dreams can help us sort through the things that aren't necessary and also help us to process the things that are.) 

Dreaming is like going to another plane -- where your soul joins the souls of others to accomplish what you need to accomplish with them.  

Life is the school, love is the lesson. Dreams are our teachers too.  

Soon You Will Know. You Will Know That I Am Here.

I know you're grieving. I know that when you grieve it can be a dark and unhappy place. 

Do me a favor. Right here right now. Read the brief excerpt below from Book 3. Then put your device down and sit back and take a deep breath. Look around you. You are more than your grief. Look at your family, if you have one. Your pets, if you have them. Your home, Your furniture. Your houseplants. Your view. 

Close your eyes and think of those you love who have traveled on over the Rainbow Bridge. The Rainbow Bridge is simply a passageway to the other side of the "veil". The veil is so thin, thinner than the thinnest fabric or screen. We are just on the other side of your world, right now. See if you can feel us there. Talk with us. We are waiting for you. 

We are all around you waiting for you to smile again. We are continually trying to show you what you still have in your life that is good. You have what you can see, but you also still have what you cannot see. You have me! You have "We"! We are always trying to help you to know that we are never gone, we are just Gone From Your Sight. We live closer to you than your breath! 

Your heart is our home. When your heart is unhappy, we are unhappy too. When you heal and make your heart a pleasant place, then we can be free to live again and love again. But until then, we wait patiently, for you to see the sun shine on your life again. 

It never went away. 

Nor did we. 

"Heaven is all around you. You just can’t see us because we are vibrating at a higher level than you are. It’s kind of like a dog whistle. There is a noise, a pitch so high that the human ear cannot detect it but it is there nonetheless, for don’t you see all the dogs come running!

When we cross Rainbow Bridge we become only love and love is the highest level of vibration; the highest “pitch” so to speak. This is why you cannot see us. We are here, only gone from your sight until one day you are the same vibration as we are.

When you vibrate in love all the time you will not have to ask again if I am here, you will know that I am here with you."

"Jack McAfghan: Return from Rainbow Bridge" Chapter 65