A Hunt To Remember

There have been days when Rawley, our Cairn Terrier, has been the bane of our lives. He is such a friendly little guy, but his propensity to run on instinct and impulse sometimes makes him a difficult housemate. Even his playmate Quincy, the West Highland White, has developed a remarkable strategy for obtaining just a few minutes rest from the younger and smaller dog. He trots up the stairs into the loft, knowing that Rawley will follow him. And then, knowing that Rawley cannot or will not come down steps, he returns to the main floor for a couple hours of sweet respite from the small brown tornado.

But this weekend, Rawley redeemed himself. In my experience, there are few things more glorious than working animals doing what they are bred and trained to do. Draft horses, packs of hounds on scent, and seeing eye dogs have always held my rapt attention. The drug sniffing beagle in the Miami airport was one of the high points of my lay over time there (she even had a little blanket coat with her agency and badge number.) A couple in our parish, the Churchfield's, have long kept a pack of working Jack Russell terriers, and Glen is even a certifying judge for the terrier association (www.therealjackrussell.com or www.terrier.com.) This weekend, Rawley made a guest appearance as a novice with the other dogs. After a great hunt breakfast, complete with fresh eggs from parishoner Mary Oehler's flock and Glen's signature pressed coffee, we loaded into the truck and headed for a farm below Bremen. After a lot of walking, and watching what terriers usually do, one of the dogs scented a fresh hole, and we saw what terriers are really made to do. The details are not for the faint of heart, but suffice to say that the farmer's crops are safe from one more groundhog, which is what terriers are really made to do. Rawley, the new guy, did a good enough job to get himself invited back on some future occasion, and suprizingly, I found myself feeling a lot like I did the night Tristan made his first tackle in a varsity football game at Fisher Catholic High School.

And so Rawley, Mom and Dad are really proud of you. You have, so to speak, "earned your spurs," and once again demonstrated that all of nature fits together in God's great plan, and that everyone has an important job to do. May we all figure out what God's job for us is, and may we have the instinct and courage to do it well. AMEN!