I’ve loved dogs all my life. My family and I have been blessed to have many of them as beloved members of the family over the years.

My spirit guides also have a fondness for dogs (and all animals). Here are a few words from them, taken from an article we wrote a few years ago:

“Your domestic pets, especially dogs and cats, are one of the greatest gifts humanity has ever received. We realize you sometimes take these delightful creatures for granted — just as you sometimes do your fellow humans.

“Pets are not in your lives solely for your entertainment, though they certainly do entertain you. More importantly, pets are here as your teachers and, often, your healers.”

I know some of you have heard the story of Shep, a sheepdog from Fort Benton, Montana. Shep became a legend in his own lifetime. There’s a chapter about him in our book, Dogs: Heartwarming, Soul-Stirring Stories of Our Canine Companions.

After Shep died in a tragic accident the people of Fort Benton gave him a proper funeral and an affectionate farewell. The Reverend Ralph Underwood, a local pastor, gave Shep’s eulogy. Reverend Underwood adapted his eulogy from a closing courtroom argument by George Graham Vest. Vest was a 19th century lawyer and a United States senator from Missouri.

In 1870 Senator Vest took on a client whose dog had been killed by a neighbor. During the trial, the senator vowed he would “win the case or apologize to every dog in Missouri.” His closing argument, which won the case, came to be known as “Eulogy to a dog.”

Here is Reverend Underwood’s eulogy to Shep:

“The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.

“A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in the encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains.

“When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.”

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If you’re as much of a dog lover as I am, you’ll need lots of Kleenex® to get through this beautifully touching, true story.

In the early 1980s John took a spiritual development course, and was introduced to his first spirit guide, Lydia. After Lydia arrived, three other guides also came to him: Archangel Michael, Tamarra, and Chief Joseph. Today these are John’s four main guides.

Besides his four main ones, John has various other guides. The entire group is really a multidimensional collective consciousness. John refers to the entire group simply as “Spirit.”

© Copyright 2015 John Cali. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

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