“God made…all the creatures.” Genesis 1:25 NIV

Here is a great story about pets.

In his 45 years as proprietor of Cooke’s Funeral Home Fred Cooke comforted thousands of bereaved people. But when his wife died of cancer Cooke needed comforting himself. So he adopted a golden retriever named Abigail. Cooke lived in an apartment above the funeral home. “Most days I’d take Abigail downstairs with me and let her play in my office while I worked.” But one day Abigail got out and went looking for new friends to play with. When he went looking for her Cooke discovered her in the chapel, curled at the feet of a woman seated near her husband’s casket. Cooke apologized profusely and tried to lead Abigail away. “Does she have to go?” the grieving woman asked him. “It’s such a comfort having her here.” Soon Abigail was sneaking out of Cooke’s office regularly, heading for one of the funeral home’s visitation rooms. “She seems to sense who’s most distraught and that’s the person she’ll go to first,” says Cooke. “She’ll sit at their feet and gaze up at them with those compassionate brown eyes, and within minutes they’ve stopped crying and started stroking her fur. Off duty, you won’t find a more playful pup. But the moment she steps into that chapel she turns into a completely different dog,” says Cooke. Abigail’s only mishap occurred when she was still a pup, and even that turned out well. She ate somebody’s carnations. Cooke rushed out to replace the flowers, but the family wouldn’t let him. “Mabel was a real dog-lover,” they told him. “You can’t imagine how it would make her smile to see those chewed-up flowers.” No doubt about it, pets are a gift from God! So enjoy yours!

I just love this dog.
Real name: “Courtois” (pronounced “coda way”) a stream in Southern Missouri ( named after the Coutois Indians) This was the first river Codes floated with us when he was a pup 13 years ago in my old town canoe.

Nick names: “Chinka boy “, “Curley Bill”, “Esau”, “Moosehead” , or more simply we call him “Codes”. He his a real retriever and a great friend.

Bella was brought to us from Rescue Golden. She had been bitten by a rattle snake and survived to be our second golden retreiver.

Both of our dogs go every where we go. Loyal Labs for sure.