“The Caleb”: A Christian Dog

By Diann Ross Woodbury

When I first started this book, I was disabled. As time went on and on, I became more disabled and thought I might never finish it. Over time, I came to realize that I was writing a story about Jesus or a lot of His personality in a dogs body. I was shocked! I also finished this book on a broken computer that I had asked God to fix since no one else could fix it. I am also realizing that dog spelled backwards has more relevance than I had previously realized. I hope you and your children enjoy reading this book and grow closer to Jesus because of it.

The book THE CALEB, A Christian Dog is found to be after research, a one of a kind Christian book. It cannot be called a nonfiction book or a fiction book. It is both! It is not just for children but for adults as well. It is instructional, exciting and heartwarming. I encourage you to read the introduction page to have a greater understanding of what this book of surprises is about. The back cover of the book will give you even more added insight as to its importance. Most revues state that most of this book would make a great movie.

Thank you!!

D.R.W.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524509385

Diann Ross Woodbury

Diann is not afraid to take on various subjects that might be controversial to certain people or groups of people. She considers herself to be a fanatical and an absolute zealous Christian. Those two words mean that she is on fire for and unyielding for her cause, which is for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, her God! Her house is painted bright red for the blood of Jesus Christ. She was taught very early after getting saved to not intellectualize herself right out of being saved. She believes everyone deserves the chance of getting saved, no matter what awful things they might have done. Every book she writes has a three page poem on forgiveness. She believes that all of us have “to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12) It is a process that goes on for the rest of our earthly lives. She has written three other books. Longings from Degradation to Enlightenment; God, Fire, and Truth: A Poetic Journey Through the Bible, All Poems About a Loving God; and, the first of a series, The Caleb: A Christian Dog, a Spiritual Journey and Adventures. All are in paperback and the first two are on e-book in black and white and The Caleb: A Christian Dog series is on e-book in color. The second of the series is now being written and is entitled The Caleb: A Christian Dog, an Ongoing Journey in and of the World. All of the series of The Caleb also detail her ongoing struggles with extreme health issues. Her message stresses that, no matter how sick you may be, to stay with Jesus and never give up!

Book preview

Chapter 1

Adopting Caleb

I watched my Boxer dog Ozni cause so much trouble in his short life. He was so abused he did not know how to love me or anything else. He constantly ran away as he could jump a 6 1/2' fence. He was fought before I got him and still always wanted to fight so I could not socialize him. I spent approx. $6000 on him because he had heartworms when I purchased him and later lots of other problems leading to his dying of cancer. None of the neighbors liked him because he was a nuisance barker.

Nothing but nothing would shut him up. The vet gave him only 2 months to live when they found the cancer. I massaged him every day for over an hour; sometimes two. I cooked and hand fed him with special care. He made it 6 months. I wondered how I would know when to put him to sleep and the vet. said I would just know. It was (Psalm 104:11) in the Bible that let me know when. It mentioned that the wild donkeys would go to the water to QUENCH THEIR THIRST. Ozni would lap his water and immediately throw it up. He could not QUENCH HIS THIRST. I took him to the vets. the very next day. It was the ONLY time he went in without wanting to fight.

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The first picture shows how Ozni was so fierce and the second picture was what he thought of the world and death in general. He just stuck out his tongue as if to say "Nah Nah Nah Na Na Nah Na !!!!!! Ozni was NEVER EVER AFRAID OF ANYTHING THE WHOLE TIME I HAD HIM !! In spite of his overall disposition, I loved him a lot!!!! The whole time I knew Ozni was dying I was seeking another Boxer.

This time I wanted a purebred from the SPCA shelter. I called almost every day for six months and the answer was always no. God rarely actually speaks to me but He finally said Diann ask for a mixed breed. When I did that I was told they had one of those. I had a really unreliable computer that eventually brought up the picture of a dog’s head. I begged God to just not have him be the color brindle. I could not tell from the picture, and there was no mention of his color in the description. I told them I wanted him. They said at the shelter that I could only have him if I interacted with him. They said they could only hold him for an hour. My neighbor said she had ONLY one hour as she had other things to do that afternoon. We rapidly went to the shelter and I went directly to him among hundreds of dogs. He was the only one not clambering to get adopted. He just stayed in a head down lump. He was so depressed. He had been abandoned and it looked like he had been starved and beat. Oh horror; he was a brindle color. He was skinny with no personality but he was a purebred Boxer! My neighbor, who didn’t like Ozni, liked him. I knew God had brought us together so I could not wait to get him home in spite of his color. Going home in the car he picked me to try to cling to. Most of my other dogs except Ozni preferred my neighbor as she was a true dog person. I was told once a person gets a Boxer, a person would be hooked. I never believed that until I got my first Boxer. Now I know exactly what they meant. Boxers are the best breed for me. (It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the best.) (Luke 12:32)

I had only had dry mouthed Boxer’s up to that point and really good watch dogs. I had learned to love the little nub tails that at first I couldn’t tell if my dog was wagging it or not. I always loved the soft hanging ears. Caleb’s ears and head were past soft. They were like the finest velvet.

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When I got him home he had separation anxiety and almost took down my back porch door. He did not know what in the world a toy was and HE WAS NO WATCH DOG! He also slobbered and had to be toweled off every time he came in from the yard or he had a mud mouth.

Every time Caleb went out to go potty he got into something burrowed in the ground. He can only be out for 5 minutes or 4 hours it makes no difference. He has to get that bug or wear himself out trying.

Once I had a pretty big mound of mulch delivered into the middle of his yard and he dug a hole like a volcano top and would stand upward on it like he was a conqueror, hence I gave him a new nickname. I called him The Lion King because he stood on that pile of mulch like he was a king. Later he would do more things to convince me that I had nicknamed him correctly. He developed a way at the corners of the yard like he was a baseball player. He slid and pushed up almost enough dirt to climb over the fence. So far he hadn’t tried to run away. He loved to stand on those mounds like The Lion King also. Front paws both up and even and both back paws perfect. Later I would give him lots more nicknames.

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Here Caleb is The Lion King. Later he would be called other nicknames to add to the list of nicknames like Mud Mouth, Shine Dog, Hula Hips, Barely Born Pup, Velvet Ears and others as the years passed.

After I fed him really good he started to change. I am disabled so I had a lot of time for him. He turned into The Lion king of watch dogs also, with a different technique for inside and out. Inside he would check out the person coming in and then if I said it was alright he would make them feel at home and get excited to meet a new friend. He however, unlike many of my other dogs, would come back to me. I finally had my most loyal of Boxers. Much later I found out the complete meaning of Caleb. I had named him from the Old Testament of the Bible because Caleb was the man who always followed God.(Numbers 14:24)

Caleb’s name actually stood for dog. Another man told me it stood for loyal dog and my Caleb was definitely loyal to me. Another thing changed. He began to turn black, but not just black. He began to get orange tiger stripes on him. No one believed me when I told them about that—until they saw it for themselves. I am an artist who has sold hundreds of paintings though I can no longer sit to do anything like painting. It was as if God took his own paint brush and hand painted those orange stripes on him. I could never have asked for a more beautiful color on a dog. God surely had a laugh on me.

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Do I look like I’m part Tiger too?

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Do you like my stripes and nub tail?

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(Gen. 37:3)

Caleb and his coat of many colors; like Joseph’s many colored coat in the Bible.

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TIGER STRIPES

I tried to get Caleb to eat his Dog food when I got him home, but he was not feeling too well at first. I didn’t have an air conditioner that worked properly and I think he was rather hot in my small bedroom. He liked his bed and DID eat the people food that I was eating. I played with a bowl of goodies and slowly mixed his regular food in with them. Too much people food is not good for a dog, as it may not be balanced enough for their systems. I am always concerned when a dog doesn’t eat his food and usually will end up cooking for my baby. I knew summer was going to get even hotter so I let him skip a meal or two and he ate up all his food from then on. It would come in handy in the future. Life does not always go according to a plan. I am so glad I stuck to