Max Could Use A Blessing
- 10.03.09
- Stupid Church Signs
- 7 Comments
I couldn’t resist taking
a picture of this church sign. While I’m sure the childrens choir will be great, I’m a bit confused by the blessing of animals portion of their Sunday service.
Not sure exactly what this will look like, but if they’re handing out blessings at the Albuquerque Center for Spiritual Living, I just may take my dog, Max, by in the morning.
You see, Max is deaf, and he could use a blessing or two…or maybe even a complete healing. His lack of hearing causes our family much grief as we struggle to get his attention and get him to obey even the most basic of commands. Plus, because he can’t hear, he makes the craziest noises, some of which can be quite frightening.
I was unaware that animal blessings were part of my calling as a pastor. This is something that my college professors and spiritual mentors neglected to tell me. But, I look forward to learning the animal blessing mantra so that the animals of my flock can be blessed, including my deaf dog, Max.
Sounds sort of like dog psychiatry.
Dog’s noses usually have hyper function. Perhaps you could train him with different odors? A different order for each command. You could use perfume to get him to sit up and take notice, and spray vinegar to get him to role over. Then fry a steak to get him to say the blessing… Any body else with some ideas for helping Mike train Max?
I did it again… its bed time and my spelling went to sleep before I did… A different odor not order…
I have heard of other churches doing it this weekend, too. In fact, this seems to be animal blessing sunday! I am surprised you didn’t get the memo. LOL. Mike, you are a pastor – take it into your own hands, and bless your dog!
If this is the church I’m thinking of – it’s a block or two away from where we live. They always have the whackiest signs. The poor Baptists across the street just can’t compete. ; )
As far as poor Max goes….that has to be frustrating for all of you – including him! But he has such a sweet face.
I’m sure you have wielded Google’s power and found this site, but just incase you have not: deafdogs.org – they have a training page. Trish at Acoma dog training might be of some help too…she’s a Dog Whisperer type. Very good at what she does.
Why did you get a deaf dog? It seems like you have enough to navigate without having to train a deaf dog. Anyway, it seems Max is already blessed—to belong to the Potters.
I have a deaf pit too. After 3.5 years he now responds to over 20 commands. Deaf dogs take more patience to train than normal dogs… but well worth it. Our dog knows that he needs to watch our face for visual queues about what he should or shouldn’t do. I think that the hardest part for us was getting over the puppy years. You can’t just yell at them to stop you have to physically get up and use hand signals. Be patient.