Anonymous Poem - A Golden Puppy

A Golden Puppy

I'll lend to you for a little while,
A Golden pup, God said,
For you to love her while she lives,
and mourn for when she's dead.
Maybe for twelve or fourteen years
or only two or three,
But will you, 'till I call her back,
Take care of her for me?

She'll bring her charm to gladden you,
And should her stay be brief,
You'll always have her memories 
as solace for your grief.
I cannot promise she will stay,
since all from death return,
But there are lessons taught below
I want this pup to learn

I've looked the whole world over,
In search of teachers true,
And from all the folks that crowd life's land
I have chosen you.
Now will you give her all your love
Nor think the labour vain,
Nor hate me when I come to take
My Golden back again.

I fancied that U hear you say
Dear Lord thy will be done,
For all the joys this pup will bring
The risk of grief I'll run.
I'll shelter her with tenderness
I'll love her while I may,
And for the happiness I've known
Forever grateful stay.

But should you come to call her back
much sooner than I planned,
I'll face the bitter grief that comes
and try to understand.
If by my love I've managed
Your wishes to achieve,
In memory of her I loved, to help
me when I grieve.

When my faithful friend departs
This great big world of strife,
I'll have another Golden pup
And love her all my life.

Anonymous

Shared by cubbysan at the Golden Retriever Forum. It was collected years ago and source is unknown. If you know the author of this poem please share so they can be credited. 

Molly Crying in Airport

Golden Light #10 is Molly Crying in Airport During Reunion with Owner.

The following YouTube video features a soldier returning home for Christmas from Afghanistan and being greeted by her loyal Golden Retriever Dog named Molly who cries when seeing her. The video embeded here of the reunion has received over 6 million views since being uploaded a year ago and there are multiple accounts that are sharing this touching video.



Golden Light Honors the Lives of Golden Retrievers.

Rudyard Kipling's Poem - A Dog for Jesus

A Dog for Jesus
(Where dogs go when they die)

I wish someone had given Jesus a dog.
As loyal and loving as mine.
To sleep by His manger and gaze in His eyes
And adore Him for being divine.

As our Lord grew to manhood His faithful dog,
Would have followed Him all through the day.
While He preached to the crowds and made the sick well
And knelt in the garden to pray.
It is sad to remember that Christ went away.
To face death alone and apart.
With no tender dog following close behind,
To comfort its Master's Heart.
And when Jesus rose on Easter mourn,
How happy He would have been,
As His dog kissed His hand and barked it's delight,
For The One who died for all men.

Well, the Lord has a dog now, I just sent Him mine.
The old pal so dear to me.
And I smile through my tears on this first day alone,
Knowing they're in eternity.
Day after day, the whole day through,
Wherever my road inclined,
Four feet said, "Wait, I'm coming with you!"
And trotted along behind.

Rudyard Kipling

Poem Source: http://prayersforpets.org/poems1.htm

Peanuts Cartoon (April 17, 1993)

The Peanuts cartoon created by Charles M. Schultz on April 17, 1993, is very funny as it relates to dogs. It has a comic take on who is really in charge in the canine and human relationship. You can read the cartoon at the link here.

Link Here

Carly Sentiveny-Collins

Golden Light #9 is Carly Sentiveny-Collins.

Carly is a 9 year old Golden Retriever who works as a member of the pain management team at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, California. Carly is owned by Sandy Sentiveny-Collins who is an RN. Carly is a Golden Light for the way she helps children cope with their pain in the hospital.

Here is a video about Carly's work at the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital.

 

Carly works about ten hours a day at the hospital. Hospital physicians can write Carly Consults when patients need to visit with Carly, and then Carly fulfills those visits when she is at work. Sandy Sentiveny-Collins describes Carly's work in the above video this way,

Carly gets working in the hospital. I am not sure how she gets it. I didn't teach it to her. When we are outside she is much more athletic and active. As soon as we walk through the doors she slows down her pace. She walks pretty slowly throughout the hospital. She'll stop whenever children approach her and want to pet her. She'll let them do pretty much whatever they wan to do.

Special thanks to Carly for all her hard work in the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. Many children are blessed to get a Carly Consult.

 

Golden Light Honors the Lives of Golden Retrievers.

Cinnamon Makes Jonathan Laugh

Cinnamon Roll #2

On Tuesday evening, July 23, 2013. Jonathan and I were walking our Golden Retriever Cinnamon around our city block. Half way through the walk, Jonathan picked up a stick to play with as he is accustomed to doing. I don't necessarily think that is an autism trait, but maybe boys just like to play with sticks.

After a while Cinnamon snatched the stick out of Jonathan's hands and started eating the stick. I think Cinnamon thought Jonathan was playing with him or feeding him. This made Jonathan laugh. I reminded Jonathan after this that Cinnamon was his very own dog. After that I got Jonathan to hold Cinnamon's leash (with me also holding the leash as well) for a while as we continued our walk. This made both boy and dog (and Dad) happy.

I have wrote about this incident because Jonathan seemed to be genuinely happy with his dog. Sometimes seemingly small moments can make a tremendous difference.

Ruby Tingum

Golden Light #8 is Ruby Tingum.

Ruby Tingum is a Golden Retriever who lives with Bruce and Caroline Tingum's family in Encinitas, California (part of San Diego County). She is an autism service dog who is very gentle around children and received her training from Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs, Inc. Ruby's role is to protect Garrett Tingum, a 10 year old boy with severe autism. Ruby Tingum is a Golden Light for the help she provides to the Tingum family and Garrett Tingum as he navigates through life.

In addition to autism, Garrett Tingum has mild cerebral palsy, apraxia (motor planning disorder), and pica (eats non-edible items). Garrett's most dangerous behavior is his tendency to escape his home and run into the street or go into people's homes. Ruby has been especially trained to find Garrett when he goes missing. Here is a video on Ruby's story of comforting the Tingum family.

   

Caroline Tingum described Ruby and Garrett's friendship in the above video, "Garrett has a friend. He's never had a real friend before. You know you don't think of children with autism as being lonely just because they can't express it. Ruby has filled that void I think."

Special thanks to Ruby and all the talented and loving dogs who are making a difference around the world for autism. If you liked this post you may like to read about other Golden Lights with the label "Autism". Ruby Tingum has also been featured on our Autism Light blog as Autism Light #288.

Golden Light Honors the Lives of Golden Retrievers.