Bird Flu...Swine Flu...Dog Flu?

*Warning: The "ewww" factor on this post is between 6 & 8 depending on if you have kids, own dogs, or both.* 

 Do dogs get the flu? We have owned a dog most of the sixteen years we've been married and currently own two sweet puggles. (Okay, one really sweet one and one that makes me want to pull my hair out because she won't stay out of the trash.) Last week, Stella, our beauty with the caramel fur and black mask was sick all day. I mean really sick. Up-chucking. Vomitting. Blowing chunks. Puking. Whatever you want to call it, she was doing it. I confined her and her mess to the kitchen and separated her from Dulcie, the trash-eater.

If you have ever observed a sick dog, you know that the proverb is true. "As a dog returns to its vomit..." Dogs have the innate sense to clean up after themselves when they puke. (I know...I wish kids did, too.) Experts reason it is a throw-back to when they were wild and they avoided leaving evidence of their weakened state for their enemies. And without the convenience of Bounty and a little anti-bacterial spray, they resort to the only resource they have--they eat it. (Sorry. I warned you!)

The complete verse says, "As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly" (Proverbs 26:11). That is sure true at my house. If I told my kids one times, I've told them a hundred, "Don't jump on the furniture." Almost daily I hear myself repeat, "Keep your hands to yourself." Or if only I had a nickel for the times I've implored, "If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all." But just like my sick puppy returned to her...uhh...mess, my kids return to their folly. Through my consistent training (okay, sometimes pleading) of them, God reminded me that His children repeat their folly regularly too.

How many times has God whispered to me, "Don't jump all over your husband when he fails." His word tells me daily to "Live at peace" with those around me. Does He wish He had a nickel for everytime He implored, "If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all"? (Better known as 'Do unto others...')

Wouldn't it be nice if their mother could learn that lesson before my kids did? And isn't it nice that just like I will go on repeating myself and loving them, God will do the same for me?