A proper Eu-dogly! Or a Kaddsh for my dog! We had to assist my dog to cross over yesterday, after 16 years with us, many seasons, many people and much art- and see his sisters again.
We’ve had three border collies over the years, but this one kept herding til the end! I am working on his Eu-dog-ly today for those angels who were around when he crossed over:

Jakob our oldest and last standing dog is ready to cross over. He’s been a part of several art communities across continents and our hearts for some time!
He is a humorist who has traveled with us through many seasons of our life’s journey.
He is jewish having been born with a built in yarmulke.
As a clown, he has helped us laugh during these difficult times we all live in, and helped us never take ourselves too seriously.
He will be missed. Yet, hopefully he will get to hang out soon with his two border collie sisters who are by now herding angels!
He’s been a very bonded and faithful dog to me (and even traveled with us to Europe many times!), and put up with being in many of my silent films, as he was a perfect black and white silent film star.
I’ll miss my side kick. I sort of regret teaching him to play dead for my silly films. But now I hope he plays his way through death into his next. At the end he stared right through my eyes to Jesus’! A better shepherd than me I’m sure!
May, as my mentor said in his last years, we have to play or rehearse death before we die. Death is not the end, as Dylan sang, but more a crossing over into a great and kind unknown.
Where our names and purposes come clear. I’m sure he is already herding angels with his sisters on that other plane or dimension where there is only life.
Jakob also would sit with me in my art studio for a whole painting. Bored, but happy that I’m creating something. He sits with me often as a make art.
Had a dream this week, as I often do, when I must make a hard call, or pay attention to something well (ie in my innermost spirit), a few nights ago, where he came to me and said he was ready for his next adventure. No passports are required, he joked:)!
He said it, as in a silent film, without speaking or even barking. Like Buster Keaton, just let his presence tell the tale! Ok, buddy, I’ll help you cross over.
See you soon, to my Jewish dog-that built in Yarmulke gave him away at all the borders we crossed (although he was not kosher, loved pork!) who lived to nearly 16 years, outlasting all our other collies by a mile or so. And who stayed funny until the end!
He was a pure breed border collie from a ranching family up north (his sister was rescued from Hurricane Katrina, but he came to us with no previous traumas—outside of having to live with two artists, I’m sure he is fine!), and herded even squirrels til the end.
But at the very end, I’ve been herding him. He is ready to herd above, or in that other home just near us, where we all sort of already live, I’m passing him on to a better Shepherd I’m sure! Not sure what needs herding up there, but he’ll find it!
Lastly, his favorite music that I would play was gypsy music. He was nomadic like me, and had a circus spirit.
Alas, the merrymakers down here are getting fewer. But, I’m sure we will all return, and maybe they need them over there now. But, we could certainly use a few more clowns down here these days as well.
A clown exit is a difficult lament, in that it needs to be funny as well as sad. I’ve done lots of funerals as I grew up the son of a minister and a wedding director, and funerals are often more meaningful than weddings.
But, a clown’s funeral needs to lead to the type of laugher that makes one cry. Like life or Klezmer music—if you speed it up, it works at weddings, slow it down, at funerals. At least mine and Jakob’s have been, a type of Klezmer song.
God bless the merrymakers below and above! And may they all receive my dog Jakob in Love!
Each creature has a name and story, and we are blessed to share life with them, and as a friend always says, we don’t deserve dogs.
And that one upstaged me with his clownish humor. And taught me to be a better more humble and ready person, while here.
Blessed are the merrymakers, as Jeremiah told us. And bless Jakob as he joins the truly Big Top Circus above!
Even though he ate his own tail, which is another tale to tell at another time! But a true story.
The creatures are less interrupted in love than us. We are afraid of one another, afraid of life, defensive and at times, just rude.
He preached a different way. His trust shown through his David Bowie eyes (one blue one yellow gold) as he stared into mine into Christ’s, as he passed, proved it to me. Love overcomes death.
He just acquiesced as few people I’ve seen. He surrendered into Love. His last silent sermon was about trusting that we are all loved and named! Love continues, was his last sermon. And love is eternal, I’ll add as Jakob’s footnote.
See you soon friend!