Did you know that dogs have an uncanny ability to sense spirits? Well, they do.
Friday afternoon I took the kids and went to visit my mom & sister for the weekend. A friend was getting sealed in the temple and I wanted to be there for it. So I showed up to my mom's house, walked in the door and there was my brother's dog standing there, barking wildly at me. My sister called him off but he just wouldn't let up.
We left for dinner and came back, again the dog barked at me and wanted to be anywhere but near me. I left to get my mom from work and when we arrived back, the kids were all downstairs having movie night and the dog still wouldn't come near me. (The report was he was great with the kids.)
So I put my hand down for him to smell and he bit it! Not hard, but enough for him to get his mouth flicked and sent outside.
A little bit later he was inside again, sitting in the pathway, so I went to step around him and he bit my leg!
Then a bit later my sister pulled him up onto her lap as we sat on the couch & I put my hand down for him to smell again. And again, he bit it. My sister was SO mad at him. She held his mouth closed and forced him to stay on her lap and demanded that I pet him. I wouldn't do it. It was clear he was very uncomfortable and he wanted nothing to do with me. I didn't want to cause him more discomfort than he already was encountering. I asked that he be let down away from us. She was baffled since he has never acted this way towards anyone before. Ever. I admitted that I was feeling pretty frustrated and sad and I wondered if there wasn't a spirit lurking around me causing me to feel this way.
She let the dog back in and tried to force him to sit by me - he actually whined!
I felt so sad for him.
The next morning, I got myself dressed and ready, got the kids up for the day & headed to the temple.
It was a much needed relief from the sadness I had been feeling the day before. I love the sense of peace the temple brings to me - and this time it was needed so much more than other times I had been there.
I came back to the house to find it standing, the kids happy & my sister exausted. The dog LOVED playing and trying to "herd" the kids (he's a healer mix). I went and sat with my mom for a few minutes and in walked the dog, sat his head in my lap, licked my hand, and wandered away.
So strange.
I recounted the activities to Popeye that afternoon and he said that he has felt something bad around me sometimes. It is as if it is waiting for me to snap at my kids so that it can move-in. He admitted that some nights he can't get to sleep because of that feeling.
I wonder if Maddie senses that sometimes, too. There are times she skirts by me not wanting me to do anything with her. I always chalked it up to her being abused before - and maybe it is. Maybe her previous owners had that same spirit about them when abusing her.
Now I feel so bad about it. BUT - I came away this weekend with a renewed determination to pray more, read my scriptures more, be a little more forgiving and patient.
I want to wake up in the morning and live that phrase - you know the one that says, "Live each day so that when you wake up Satan says, 'Oh crap. She's awake.'" Yep - that's the one I want to live.
So, if your dog is acting all strange around you, try praying and get those evil spirits away from you, because they are VERY real. Or go to the temple, that works, too. :)