Release day for "Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Very Good, Very Bad Dog"

Callie would like you to know she doesn't always look so guilty.

(Okay, so that's a lie.
But she's still very sweet, I promise.)

Today is the release day for "My Very Good, Very Bad Dog" and I have a story in it!

Or, if you like, that sheepish looking dog above has a story in it. :)

Callie is the subject of the story "Right", which you'll find on page 101 of said volume, and which starts like this:

"Hi, I'm Jessica, and I have an anxiety disorder."

I do, actually, and the story of how Callie turned out to be just the dog to help is found in the pages of this new book. If you pick up a copy, I hope you enjoy reading about that, and about all the other remarkable canines chronicled in the book.

And here's something really cool: in addition to my own excitement, it turns out that my daughter, at age 11, is a big fan of Chicken Soup for the Soul, and it was so fun to hand her a copy of this book, and see her excitement when she learned that not only had her mom had a story published here, but that she got to read it before it was even in the bookstores. 

Now that's a perk of writing I didn't see coming - but I love it! :D




-Jessica Snell

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What owning pets can teach us about agape love

My dog is an idiot.

And my cat is mean.

And I love them both to pieces.

My dog, Callie, really wants us to love her. ALWAYS. Which means ALL THE TIME. Which means SCRATCH ME PLEASE SCRATCH ME I LOVE YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THE END.

And my cat, Jack, would really like us to feed him, for which he will deign to bite us delicately, rather than biting us with intent to maim. (He's so kind and condescending. Sort of like Lady Catherine de Burgh.)

But they're both lovely animals, actually. In their own ways, they're desperate for attention and care, and they give back the affection their natures allow them, and they make our lives better with their presence and their sheer, stupid energy.

And it made me think: I can kind of get agape love a little better since I'm the owner of goofy Callie and supercilious Jack.

Pets vs. Humans
Sometimes it's easier to love imperfections like a bitey cat than to love imperfections like a gossipy tongue. It's easier to love my stupid dog than it is to love . . . well . . . stupid humans.

Animals are simple. They have their own personalities, sure, but the eat-prey-love drives are pretty surface and easy to understand in all of them.

Humans are anything but simple. Even at ninety years old, can you hope to really know yourself? Really?

But, see, I love my pets. I don't expect them to be something other than they are (though I sometimes hope).  And I feed my cat on the days he scratches up the carpet the same as on the days that he purrs happily while I pet him (this is a rare occasion with our persnickety formerly-feral feline).


And I guess that's how I should love people. Because we're all sometimes cranky or stupid. And we hope the people who are meant to love us love us still.

God helping us. Amen.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell