Foley's Tales From Rainbow Bridge: Hannah, her Dad, and the Thin Ice

 

There are things we dogs just know. Maybe it is because we are attuned to nature or still have enough wolf instinct to judge when a situation is unsafe.

Humans have monkey instincts: They’re no good. Monkeys are:

 

• The fools of the jungle.
• Swinging from tree to tree.
• Playing baseball with bananas and poop.  

Behavior like that is why humans have, for centuries, tried to shed everything they learned as monkeys. Being descended from wolves is cool. Being descended from monkeys is less so. Humans don’t know how to read characters because they deny their monkey nature.

That, and being simple-minded, gets humans in more trouble than a monkey on a rock.

Humans wander into danger like babies walking past a hot stove. 

Hannah is a beautiful Golden Retriever living in a Minnesota suburb with her parents. She loved doing everything with her dad, including hunting and fishing. When her dad grabbed his pole last week, she thought he would fish along the shore while Hannah explored the woods.

They got to the water’s edge. A thin coat of ice was on it; in some places, the water was spilling off the ice. “What do you think?” Hannah’s dad asked. 

“Looks good to me,” Hannah’s dad’s even dimmer friend said.

Then, to her shock, the men began to walk on the thin ice. Hannah knew it was dangerous, and they were sure to fall into the cold water, but she was her dad’s dog, and that meant she followed, even if it was to the bottom of a frozen lake. 

Twice, Hannah stopped walking and looked back to shore, crying, hoping the message was received, but the men were determined. When they reached the hole, Hannah was questioning if she was, in fact, the dog of God when her father stamped her wet feet, and they plunged into the river.

Wisley and Hannah had already been praying, and when they took the plunge, my staff gave me the prayer. I first checked to see if Hannah was okay, which she was for now. Like all good dogs, she wanted her parent to be saved.

I had to move quickly. There was a dog who lived along the shoreline. I got him to start to bark and not stop, and his parents were alerted. Having lived there for several years and used to foolish people falling through, he called the authorities, went out with a rope around his waist, and rescued the two people and Hannah.

The wet dog showed her displeasure when they got to shore by shaking her body off next to her.

Hannah vowed never to go on a fishing trip with her dad again, but she would; she had taken a vow to protect her dad.

No matter how dumb he is.