It happened two summers ago that my brother-in-law gave my kids two puppies to care for. They died after just  three weeks. It took a while before my kids were ready to care for a new pet.

Seven months later a friend of mine gave us a puppy and we named her Taffy because her coat was the color of taffy candy. After a few months, we saw that Taffy needed another dog to play with so we got Keni from a lady selling puppies outside a mall in Pampanga.

Unlike all the other puppies being sold there, Keni looked pensive–like he was contemplating the world. He didn’t look cute. He had a stump for a tail but I liked him. He didn’t seem too eager to please me and didn’t seem to need much attention (hindi papansin, hindi epal, hindi KSP). He seemed to have self-possession.

When we got home, Keni was intrepid. He jumped on the furniture. He jumped off the hood of the car. He wasn’t very smart–he couldn’t understand toilet training. He seemed stubborn and intent on getting his way. He ate like a horse. He was greedy with food. He was a bully, too. He barked at us and chased us. I couldn’t open the gate without him streaking past me to gain freedom out on the street where he could be hit by a car or mauled to death by other dogs.

When he was on a leash and we took him for a walk, he’d drag us along! He chased cats and other dogs. He barked at bikes, trikes, cars and kids– he was a pest. He howled when we chained him up. At the vet, all that bravado left him and he would whine–he was such a coward. The 18 kilo dog would be like a lost little puppy. He was infuriating, too. I had no slippers or shoes that he hadn’t gnawed. All my son’s socks became his ‘prey’. He gnawed all the food bowls and leashes we bought for him. Keni was ugly and repulsive in every way a dog could be. I had often thougt of giving him away.

Yet I was determined to make him a good dog. I was determined to make him calm and submissive to me. He needed to learn the basics of dog-human communication: he needed to learn ‘out’, ‘sit’, ‘stay’ and ‘down’. I was bound and determined to make him a good dog–because I couldn’t make him a handsome dog. He needed to learn some manners and he needed to learn that I was the boss of him.

I was nearing hopelessness until Taffy got pregnant. Keni changed overnight. He didn’t bully Taffy anymore. He sat and waited until Taffy finished the food in her own bowl first, and, if she was still hungry, she’d eat what food there was in Keni’s bowl. Keni wouldn’t eat until Taffy had her fill. Keni had a lot of bite marks from Taffy–she had moods when she was pregnant and Keni bore it all without biting Taffy back.

When Taffy was giving birth, Keni poked his head through the doorway but one growl from Taffy and he sat still. He was so curious about the puppies but Taffy wouldn’t let him near them. Keni kept vigil a few feet away. During those cold January nights, Keni kept a close watch on those puppies. He lost weight and caught a cold. When being given medicine, this time, he didn’t resist. He was becoming mature. I’d tell him, in a calm voice, that the medicine was good for him. He looked at me and it seemed at he trusted me–he didn’t try to get away or growl at me.

When the puppies were a month old and were exploring, Keni worried a lot about them. Taffy was off chasing cats and running wild and free. Keni stayed by the puppies. He groomed them and comforted them when they hurt themselves. He licked their faces.

The puppies played with Keni. At first I was afraid for the puppies, thinking that Keni was rough– he wasn’t rough at all. He played tug-o-war with them and wrestled with them. He pinned them down and the puppies tried to wriggle free from under him. When they wiggled free, they’d jump on Keni. He is such a good dad.

When the puppies started eating solid food, Taffy would growl and bite them when they went anywhere near her food. Not Keni. He’d eat out of the same bowl as the puppies! He didn’t growl when they came over to his bowl to eat out of it.

Being a dad changed that dog. He became openly affectionate not only with his puppies but with us. When I come home, he’d jump on me, his paws on my belly. I got mad at first because it was bad manners until I noticed that his big brown eyes were looking at me like he hadn’t seen me for ages! My dog missed me. He’d rest his chin on my chest and sigh–like he was relieved that I was home at last. He’d put his paws around my waist as though he wanted us to dance!

I wonder now where I read it– that the real test of manhood is fatherhood. It takes a man to become a father–it takes a mature man to make a good father. So to those women who are frustrated and disappointed with the men they meet and think that all men are dogs–I say, you haven’t met my dog. If a man were like my dog, Keni— he’d be a decent husband and father.

The Bible often uses animals as object lessons. Proverbs asks us to consider the hardworking ways of the ant so we can be wise. Jehovah God compares his love for Israel with that of an eagle keeping her eaglets under the shadow of her wings. Jesus Christ himself compared his love for Israel with that of a hen gathering her chicks under her wings.

Most animal behaviour is instinctive– dogs don’t deliberate and choose to behave paternally. Man, who was blessed with a soul– a mind, emotions and a will– can choose to be a loving husband and father if he wanted to and if he recognized the significance of his role in his children’s lives.

My mother was orphaned at seven years old when her father died as a guerilla fighting the Japanese during World War II. All her life long she wanted and yearned for the affirming love of her father. When she got saved, she was so happy to have begun a relationship with her Heavenly Father.

The love that a father has for his children can reflect the love God the Father has for His children. Fatherhood must mirror and reflect the rigteous love God has for us. We must try to please God even in the way we behave as parents. Afterall, our children learn how to relate to God as their Father in the same way they learn how to relate to us as parents. Being a good father to one’s children prepares children to relate well to their Heavenly Father.