A Prayer for Zoie .....

The pages of Sounding Forth are often filled with hilarious accounts of Janie's four-legged friends and their escapades ... but not today.

In this latest post, Janie tells us, "We lost our precious, curious, crazy, makeuslaughtilwecried with her antics, Zoie the Wonder Pup around 7:20 a.m. Tuesday morning."

Dog-owners, of course, will understand what Janie's going through right now ... but so would anyone who can appreciate that specially-shaped void in our heart that is filled so very well by a special companion, whatever form that companion might take.

Although, statistics report, the cat has supplanted the dog as the #1 pet of choice, it's hard to imagine the dog ever relinquishing the title of 'Man's Best Friend.' The dog is our oldest friend, as well ... the first to cross over that intangible line and join us in the realm of domestication ... and the stories of devotion between human and canine are legion, ranging from "Ol' Yeller" and "Greyfriar's Bobby" to Ulysses' "Argus" and the residents of Clifford Simak's "City."

"The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog," said George Vest, in 1855, speaking to a jury that was hearing a lawsuit brought by a man whose dog had been killed. "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."

CLICK HERE to read the rest of Vest's closing argument to the jury ... Then, take a moment to say a prayer for Zoie the Wonder Pup, her family and her friends ...