When we bring a dog or cat into our homes to be our pets, all we expect from them are years of companionship and regular doses of love and affection. Most dogs and many cats will also give us their best efforts to protect us from harm. But there are also pets that come into peoples’ lives and seem to serve a special purpose. They teach, they inspire, they help heal, and they change people’s lives.
Allen and Linda Anderson, founders of the Angel Animals Network, and authors of "Angel Dogs" and "Angel Cats" propose that there is a spiritual connection between people and animals. They believe cats and dogs can have a special purpose as angels or divine messengers of love and comfort. The Andersons write, “Animals provide spiritual qualities such as unconditional love, joy, healing, forgiveness, patience, courage, and gratitude -- virtues that are often lacking in our modern high-tech yet low-touch lives.”
If you think of angels as those who appear in your life to comfort you, save you from harm, bring you out of despair, or steer the course of your life in a better direction, then some cats and dogs may as well have invisible wings and halos.
In the book, "Angel Dogs," a family tells the story of a mother in a lakeside cabin, who had the feeling her child was in danger. When she went to check on her toddler, she found her walking toward the lake. She rushed to scoop up her child, but other children nearby told the mother that the little girl couldn’t have gone into the lake because a puppy wasn’t allowing it. The mother had remembered seeing a brown puppy earlier. Each time the toddler had tried to get to the lake, the puppy herded her away. No one in the area owned the puppy, or knew where he came from, and he never appeared there again. Was he an angel puppy?
Continued: Angel Pet Offers a Healing Presence