The Blessing of the Dogs: "Be the person your dog thinks you are"

Sermon by the Revd Dr Brutus Green
Readings: Psalm 104

My first thought on visiting this church at interview just over a year ago, was “wouldn’t this be a perfect spot for a dog blessing. My previous parish in Paddington had an annual horse blessing as, despite its central location, there were still 2 working stables, plus the cavalry up the road in St John’s Wood. Here, however, it is dogs that predominate the lane and every dog must have his day.

Dogs and horses have always been man’s first companion, created as the Bible tells us, before woman, and while cats are more like people in knowing good and evil, it is dogs of all the animal world that most embody virtue.

The Dickin medal, which is the Victoria Cross equivalent for animals, has been won 34 times by dogs, more than any other animal. The rest have mainly gone to pidgeons with a few for horses. Only one for a cat, and he was in the Navy. I had two years with the PARAs and the exhibits I always most liked at their museums were the PARA dogs who were trained not only to parachute but when they hit the ground to run round in circles until their silk shutes were neatly gathered. At least one I know of landed on D-Day 75 years ago.

Dogs, though not all dogs, have courage and loyalty in abundance.  Mark Twain’s famous quote: ‘It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.’ very much summarises the confidence of the little dog. Our greyhound is a lover and not a fighter. And if I’m honest, of late, not really a lover either. But he is loyal and has his own courage. A dog psychologist wrote that ‘the greatest fear dogs know is the fear that you will not come back. This is certainly true of Zz and while making it impossible to leave at home on his own, makes him adorable and ensures us of a very warm welcome whenever we get home.

But dogs also bring out the best in us. They give us time out doors, time to think; to wonder and wander out under the skies. And dogs show us how to enjoy life. W.H. Auden wrote: In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag. But a dog will also believe in you like no one else. Once a dog has chosen you he or she will never look back and unless you’re a monster you’ll never lose that trust that actually you are the best person in the world.

So for our dog’s sake I leave you with an instruction that has more depth than all the poets and philosophers:

‘Be the person your dog thinks you are.’

Amen.