Published: September 28, 2008 12:40 am            

Pet blessings

Local events to thank your pets ... and animal welfare workers ... just for being there

FAIRMONT — Pets are a wonderful blessing.

Whether it’s a friendly dog slurping your face or an elegant cat purring into your ear, pets give you a lifetime of love.

Now you have the chance to return the favor.

The Greater Clarksburg Evangelistic Association is hosting three Blessing of the Pets events in the area.

“It’s to let to the local animal welfare workers know that people of God support and care for them in the tough job they do,” said Barbara Grigg of the association and lifetime pet lover.

Whether you have a turtle or frog, cat or dog, “Bring whatever you’ve got,” she said, “as long as it’s contained and controlled ... leashed or crated.”

• Saturday, Oct. 4, at 12-4 p.m. Creekside Kennels, Bunner Ridge. Blessing will take place at 1 p.m. with various activities afterward.

“This is a great cause,” said kennel owner Joe Gribben. “Besides, it will be a lot of fun.”

The event will include $5 toenail clipping, K-9 teams, and various exhibits and demonstrations. The donated offering will go to Marion County Humane Society and Mon County Canine Adoption Center.

• Saturday, Oct. 11, 12-4 p.m. Nutter Fort City Park, Route 20 South, Clarksburg. Blessing at 1 p.m. will be followed by activities. Offering will go to the Humane Society of Harrison County.

• Sunday, Oct. 5, at 4 p.m. Gateway United Methodist Church, 301 Diamond St., Fairmont. The offering will go to the Marion County Humane Society.

If you go, be sure to say hi to Mortimer, the 20-plus year old frog. The blessing must work for him.

“This is to witness to God’s and the church’s love and care and concern for creation,” said Pastor Steve Meadows, who will deliver the blessing there.

“This is a celebration of creation as well as God’s gift of animals. We also use this time to remind ourselves to be mindful of the needs of pets.”

The blessing will be a “very simple blessing to ask God to bless these creatures and fill our hearts with thanksgiving.”

His wife and little Mooch the Schnauzer will be there next Sunday, he said. There might even be a pet parade.

“In this day and age, pets become members of the family. We’re able to share pets with others, to see their care for their pets. It’s a warm, fun time of celebration. And we get to show our gratitude for God’s gift of creation that surrounds us.

“We also want people to realize the needs of abandoned animals that don’t receive the care they need. That’s why we receive offerings at this blessing.”

Grigg knows all about the love animals can give and the care they need. What would her life be like without Riley, the Weimaraner she rescued from a local shelter?

“We’d lost a dog six months before. When we saw Riley at the shelter, he was just a sack of bones, only about 30 pounds. But he came prancing up to us, his head up high. We fell in love.

“‘Me and the Good Lord can fix this,’ I said to myself. So we brought him home and named him Riley, because he’s gonna live the life of Riley at our house. And he has. He’s a real doll baby.”

They adopted Jada, another Weimaraner, to keep him company.

“They’ve been holding a cheek-chewing championship ever since,” she said. “That’s the way they play.”

“Some people may think there is no scriptural basis for doing the Blessing,” she said. “Read Genesis. On each of the six days of creation, two of which were animal creation, God said, ‘This is good.’ And man didn’t even get his own ‘This is good.’ Only when God saw everything He had made and said, ‘Behold, it was very good.’”

Psalm 148 mentions “creeping things and flying fowl. There’s a lot in the Bible about animals that we gloss over as metaphorical language.

“We also want to bless and encourage animal welfare workers in their difficult jobs. They do the dirty work for the rest of us,” she said.

“These poor animal control people, the things they have to emotionally endure involving the cruelty of human beings.

“And we want to thank God for the benefit that we derive from human-animal teams,” such as police, service and therapy dogs.

Sound like a good idea? Go ahead; steal it. Grigg would love that.

“I’d love to see the October calendar crammed with Bless the Pet events. I would be glad to provide information and support.

“We want to encourage people to think more compassionately about these creatures,” she said. “It’s a responsibility we have before God. I hope this event will do that.”

Blessing of the Pets is a take-off of the Blessing of the Animals traditionally done the first Sunday in October for St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals.

“We borrowed and renamed it, and tied it to collecting for animal shelters. They don’t take that long, because the audience can get antsy,” she said with a laugh.

“We want to acknowledge and pray for specific groups ... pet owners who have sheltered or adopted dogs, shelter workers and animal control workers ... vets, trainers, kennel owners and groomers ... police canine dogs, therapy dogs and their handlers that give service to man ... and all the pet owners in general.”

At one service in Virginia, she said, the priest told the audience, “May your love for your pet always remind you of God’s love for you.”

“People will say, ‘Bless my car, my job.’ Neither of those draws a breath. There’s nothing wrong with blessing these creatures God gave us. That’s just my humble opinion.”

“Public awareness is exactly what we need for all the animals,” said Fran Warner, interim shelter manager at the Marion County Humane Society.

Some shelter animals will be at the blessing to be adopted, she said.

“That’s our goal ... to care for them until they can get forever homes.”

And while the White Rock shelter has some bluebloods — a Bichon Frise, Yorkie, Rottweiler, pit bull, beagles and Labs — it’s also full with good old regular dogs, and cats and kittens “of all sizes and colors.”

Too full, she said of the no-kill shelter.

“We keep the animals until they’re adopted. We rarely put an animal down. It has to be an absolute necessity and word from the vet.

“I think people still associate us with the old kill-shelter. That’s what it was originally. There are people who ask how long we keep animals until we kill them.

“We get animals here for all reasons,” she said. Some their owners just couldn’t keep them. Others have been horribly abused and starved.

“Everything from having been beaten with a weed whacker to being thrown from a moving vehicle.”

That dog had part of its foot amputated and several teeth pulled from the abuse.

“She didn’t have much on her body that wasn’t scabbed when we got her.”

The shelter is open from 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 366-5391.

For more information about the Blessing of the Pets, visit www.blessthepets.blogspot.com.

E-mail Debra Minor Wilson at dwilson@timeswv.com.

        

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