Angel Payne: Lessons Learned from a Rescued Heart

I love stewarding and caring for my pets.

I believe strongly that you cannot, in any way shape or form, own a cat or dog anymore than you can own a child. These are beings that are in your care and custody. You can be their shepherd. And that role is a blessed one. You better do your best to commune with them and care for these dogs and cats and whatever else is something you call a “pet.” They are members of your family. And they give you so much more than you could ever give them. Where else can you get undying love and loyalty?

Take for example, a Boston terrier named Angel Payne. She had been beaten and abused and I was blessed to be able to take her in. Angel slept with her eyes wide open, stiff and unyielding in my arms, for six months. And then one night I felt her relax, and she started to snore loudly, sleeping without flinching, her eyes finally closed. As time passed, her personality bloomed, and we were joined together in joy. A simple hand gesture got her to sit. She loved my homemade dog cookies of whole wheat, peanut butter and pumpkin. She knew that breakfast was whenever she awoke, dinner at 4:30 in the afternoon and a snack before bedtime. She got on the bed at 10:30 p.m., with her fuzzy gray blanket around her. Her snoring was the most comforting sound and always put me to sleep. She had never had toys and became obsessed with balls. If it rolled, she went after it. When I stretched, she stretched. When I sat in my favorite corner of the living room in the morning sipping coffee, she was always there with me. She adored visitors. She would have made friends with a burglar. She adored my family. She was so cute when she walked, waggling her hips and clicking her toenails on the floor. Her whole hind end wagged with happiness. She loved to swim and especially chase balls in the water.

She trusted me with everything. With her whole life. And while I did rescue her, she rescued me too. She was my teacher, my therapist, my confidante, my little court jester, my companion, my added daughter, my beacon on down days, always bright, willing and loving, giving me all she had, unconditionally. She was such a comfort, in every way, making the most difficult of times bearable.

I’d give anything to see her again.