Article March 27, 2000 Issue

Casting out fear with puppy love

Lessons learned from a month with four puppies

PAMELA S. McKNIGHT

OCCASIONALLY MY HUSBAND and I volunteer for the local humane society by providing foster care for puppies too young for adoption. On one such occasion the shelter called about eight four-week-old puppies that had been abandoned by their owners, and we agreed to care for four.

It is my practice to pray for the well-being of whatever puppies we've been asked to care for even before I go to the shelter to pick them up. I affirm that not one aspect of God's creation is or ever has been abandoned by Him. I love this verse from Luke: "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?" (Luke 12:6). I always acknowledge that God is the true Parent and caregiver to each one of His ideas.

Armed with these thoughts, we went to the shelter that evening and picked up four speckled and wriggling Labrador/Dalmatian-mix puppies not much larger than my husband's hand. At home, we set about getting into the routine of caring for such young puppies, including feeding them every five or six hours. It soon became apparent that all four were suffering from diarrhea. Over the next two days the condition worsened.

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