How the Hounds of Hell got a blessing...

Could you hear them barking on Saturday? This is the true story of how Cleo and Howie made a spectacle of themselves at Christ Church Cathedral's annual Blessing of the Animals for St. Francis Day.


I know that you probably think I'm exaggerating. I'm not.

It was slightly overcast this past Saturday morning in Lexington. Everyone at the Mathews house had something important to do -- MR to ballet, Marc for a haircut and and an errand with his mom, Will sleeping in, and me? I decided
those darn dogs needed a blessing. It's been a while for Howie and frankly, I've never taken Cleo to celebrate St. Francis Day. I typically regret taking them both anywhere at the same time because they're so horrible.  It's all that
Terrier-osterone or maybe they're allergic to other dogs.

Mary Rollins helped me leash up the dogs and I dropped her downtown at ballet and went round the block to park at the church. The dogs were so excited (you can tell because my passenger window has all kinds of nose prints on it). We parked, got out of the car, and from there things went downhill. I had about 30 minutes before the service started which was taking place at the farmer's market at the old courthouse steps. From here, I'll turn the story over to Cleo for a moment:


Cleo: "We saw some other dogs, did some barking, did some more barking, Hey, look at us! We're dogs. Let's wrap the leash around mom's legs and see if we can trip her. Hey, she just tied the leashes in a knot, now we can't get away from each other! Hey, let's cross the street here. This is exciting. This is SO exciting. Look another dog! Bark Bark Bark Bark. Hey, why is mom taking us around the block again? Bark Bark Bark bark bark bark.

Back to Gwen:

Yes, the Mathews' dogs were even more horrible than I could have imagined.  People stared.  Children pointed.  People laughed.  Dogs stared.  Dogs barked at them.  People shook their heads.  The service was lovely.  There were acolytes with beautiful banners and our girl choristers singing a hymn which was probably beautiful but I couldn't really hear it over the barking.  The Reverend Janey said lovely prayers of thanksgiving for all of God's creation and creatures.  She read very loudly so that she could be heard over the barking of Cleo and Howie who, too, are God's creatures and were probably just trying to say "Amen".  Janey, always the kind-hearted optimist, suggested that perhaps they were just confused about why she was on the steps and not down there with them.   She said they were calling to her and claims she was glad to know it was Cleo and Howie making all the ruckus.



That's Elizabeth -- she works at the Vet's office.  Her dog was very nicely behaved.

 

Here's Howie meeting the Garner's dog.  About two minutes after this picture, the Garner dog tried to bite Howie.  I'm pretty sure it was something Howie said.  It wouldn't be the first time that Howie's inflamed the anger of a yellow lab.

Here's Mother Janey with some of my Sunday School children blessing their cat.  I'm sure the cat was really excited.  Most of the cats looked really happy about being there.

And then there was Lilly the chicken.  Cleo and Howie weren't too interested in Lilly.  They were, however, VERY interested in Cadbury the bunny. 

Cleo, post-blessing was lovely.  I was holding her while Janey blessed her and she seemed to really understand what was happening.  She was also eyeing the basin with holy water thinking that she was really thirsty from all the barking.   Howie, also got his blessing and then made friends with a 19-year old Fox Terrier. 

Like little children after a big day, I had two pooped puppies on the car ride home.  They even curled up together for a few minutes.  Of course, they weren't good enough for me to get a decent picture of that.

So, how do I know I had the worst dogs there?  Even in church yesterday, people were talking about them.  People who didn't even know that they were my dogs were talking about the two Jack Russell Terriers.  Yep, those were our dogs.  I think most people thought they could have used an exorcism more than a blessing.  But, at least it made other people feel good about how well-behaved their own pets were.  (I think there's a corollary to parenting here).

It was a wonderful morning full of community, joy, laughter and barking. And, funny thing, as bad as the dogs were, I found myself thinking about what wonderful little dogs they were.  Even though Sunday's sermon featured a key lesson from the Gospel of Bob, a big black Lab with a more laid back approach to life than my little terriers, I'm confident that there's something spiritual to be learned from the persistent, tenacious, exuberant and joyful way in which Terriers conduct themselves, too.  But, maybe they don't need to make quite so much noise about it when out in public.