And a better Christian

If you are in the mood for a simply wonderful short story about virtue and a dog (as people often are), have a look at Henry Lawson's 'That there dog of mine'. 

What makes this story so perfect is that the dog is not particularly anthropomorphised. The dog is allowed to be its natural dog-self, and it is the humans who are encouraged to reflect upon the defects in their own lives by observing and anthropomorphising aspects of the dog's nature which, if learned as human virtue, would make the humans all the better.   Another dog story that does this exceptionally well is the timeless Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight (compare it with Red Dog by Louis de Bernières, in which the author gets into the dog's mind, which only serves to make it too human.)

Henry Lawson's story concerns a swagman, Macquarie, who has suffered broken ribs after a fight, and his dog a broken leg.  A local hospital is willing to help the man, but will not see to mending his dog.  That being so, the swagman refuses assistance - if his dog is not good enough for the hospital, then neither is he. The animal has spent his whole life in thankless service to the (often undeserving) swagman, who realises that he cannot now abandon his hound.   In a telling passage:

 “That there dog,” said Macquarie to the hospital staff in general, “is a better dog than I’m a man – or you too, it seems – and a better Christian. He’s been a better mate to me than I ever was to any man – or any man to me. He’s watched over me; kep’ me from getting robbed many a time; fought for me; saved my life and took drunken kicks and curses for thanks – and forgave me. He’s been a true, straight, honest, and faithful mate to me – and I ain’t going to desert him now. I ain’t going to kick him out in the road with a broken leg"

Read the story for yourself to discover the ending.

There seems to be something about the nature of these animals, provided to us generously by God, that serves to be used not so much to praise the dog for its seeming virtue (after all, it is its nature), but to shine a light on our own lack of virtue, in the way that great literature or art can do. 

In its own way the dog is art, and going back to my earlier post, this is what makes me so delighted that Christ himself saw fit to use the dog's nature as an analogy in the gospel, and that several saints have had trusty canine compainons on their journeys. 

This may be a topic for a stand alone post, but the moral usefulness of dogs even goes a step further.  They can teach, and especially children, that life on earth is not forever and that relationships with loves ones will ultimately end in death.  The death of a dog has much to teach.

Anyhow, cheers for dogs.