A couple of days ago, a car in front of me had this bumper sticker on it: “Be the person your dog thinks you are.”

My dog Pucci taught me a lot. In fact, he taught me more than I taught him.

I was his shelter.

I was his playmate.

I was his partner in all kinds of adventures in the winter woods and summer lakesides.

I was his source of food.

In a thunderstorm, I was his reassurance that everything was going to be okay.

When he would curl up against one of my legs on the couch in the evening, I would be reminded of the most important thing I was to Pucci: His source of comfort. And he was mine.

A dog doesn’t know things in words, like we do. A dog knows in feelings.

What more powerful and more positive feeling can anyone know than comfort?

What could be a more deeply felt expression of unspoken love than this sense of peace and security?

What more can I aspire to as a human being — as one of God’s precious creatures — than to be a source of peace, security and comfort – and to have that feeling returned, even without a word being spoken?

John Terauds, CPE Intern