Pearls Of Wisdom: A Smart Dog's Tale

By Bill Cottringer

This book is full of pearls of wisdom being offered by a very smart, pretty, and well-behaved (most of the time) English Springer Spaniel named Pearly-Girl. She is of the opinion that most people already know all this common sense about the most important things in life but occasionally need to be gently reminded to practice it. It is Pearly-Girl's hope that her ideas will inspire people to do what she has learned God wants from all creatures: To become our best and help others do that too. You will surely find many pearls about success, happiness, purpose, love, and relationships which you can immediately adopt to improve the quality of your life. Fun reading is indeed guaranteed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781643009155

Book preview

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Pearls

of

Wisdom

A Smart Dog’s Tale

Bill Cottringer

ISBN 978-1-64300-914-8 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64300-915-5 (Digital)

Copyright © 2018 Bill Cottringer

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Book Dedication

Pearly-Girl and her ghost author dad would like to dedicate this book to the English Springer Rescue America organization (ESRA) at http://www.springerrescue.org and in particular Barb Doolin and Tiffany, who made my adoption by mom and dad possible. My new mom and dad had just lost their beloved Springer Spaniel Riley to cancer, after they rescued him from the Seattle Human Society. They agreed to give Riley the best last 6-months of his long life and when he was gone, they knew they couldn’t live without the love of another English Springer Spaniel. Here are pictures of Riley and Pearly-Girl. The picture of Riley was painted by Linda Cantwell of North Bend in honor of him after he passed. It hangs in mom & dad’s hallway.

In Memory of Riley

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Pearly-Girl (looking for some breakfast bacon).

And of course, dad wanted to include his long time boyhood dog Dukie, a Britany Spaniel who may have started our Spaniel clan. I have a surprise for you about this dog at the end of the book that I am sure you will enjoy, so don’t forget to check it out okay? Here is the picture picture of Dukie. It is not that good, being old and faded from 1962 when dad went away in the Air Force for 4 years, but it is the only one to be found in all dad’s scrapbooks and boxes of pitctures. RIP Dukie.

There are two other important people dad and I would also like to recognize in the book dedication. First there is dad’s oldest and dearest friend, Bob Wohlgemuth, who is now deceased. Dad first met Bob, at Marion Federal Prison during a week’s stay back in 1973 participating in a therapeutic community called Easclepion, with hardcore inmates serving life sentences. The therapy model back then was Eric Berne’s Games People Play.

They remained virtual best friends over the years. On the next page there is a Christmas ornament dad hangs on the tree every year in rememberance of his best friend Bob. What dad learned from his friend Bob, was the importance of good friends and also his famous quote, If you can’t have an open mind, are you sure you have one? Now dad keeps in touch with Bob’s true love, Susan, who keeps asking dad when he is coming East to Chicago for a visit. She has kept up Bob’s wonderrful tradition of sending dad cards on his birthday and holidays. dad really likes that.

Secondly, there is dad’s Air Force Air Police buddy back in 1962, who has to remain nameless for personal reasons, but this acknolwedgment will be enough. The important lessons dad’s good friend taught him were patience and forgiveness. Good news just in: Dad just found out his military buddy finally got paroled after being locked up for 30-years. dad is planning a grand reunion in the early Fall.

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Finally, we also want to dedicate this book to one of dad’s good friends in California, Van Sloan. They met several years ago when they accidentally (serindipity?) realized their two most important ideas about what drives success in school, work and life, were really two different sides to the same coin. Van’s concept of SQ (the non-discriminating measure of social intelligence quotient as opposed to the discriminating IQ measure) and dad’s idea of likeability, are both pointing towards the pervebial one thing that is most important. (Incidentally just google SQ or likeability to read more about these success drivers).

Recently Van suggested that dad write a book titled, The Real Jesus. Van’s idea was to put aside all the supernatural beliefs about the historical man Jesus, and just make a case for society operating on the basic principles of Christianity from the wisdom of Jesus. The biggest part of this book idea was to get people to consider not doing anything to increase the growing divide between the two main groups of people, but rather living life with more of a Jesus-like consciousness and being driven with the Holy Spirit inside. This is another way of saying, live your life with an abundance of SQ or likeability.

With this inspiration from Van, and during our fifth edit of this book, we both concluded this other book has already been written—this is the main idea we both want to communicate in Pearls of Wisdom: A Smart Dog’s Tale. Mention of this here in the book dedication, seems to be the best way to write a book about the real Jesus. After all, this is the real context of what our book is saying. And, we can let the readers decide if we said it well enough to make the intended difference, in joining daughter Christie K in reducing the great divide between people.

Advance Paws Praise for the Book

Some paws applause for Pearls of Wisdom from a few famous dogs:

Lassie: "Even though I was really a boy dog with a girl’s name, I was duly impressed with Pearls of Wisdom and Pearly-Girl’s writing style. I especially liked how much she knew about being likeable and a people person, like I was in my TV show."

Rin Tin Tin: From seeing pictures of Pearly-Girl running in her book, I really do think she could have kept up with me furiously going here and there on the French battlefield in World War I. It would have been fun having her as a running mate, and she could have been with me in the movies too! She has a nice profile. And her book is interesting too.

Beethoven: Now I could easily see me corrupting sweet Pearly-Girl and making mischief in her household when her mom and dad were gone, just like I had fun doing in my few movies. I think I see a bit of impishness in her eyes. Great book, by the way!

Millie: "In case you didn’t read my book, I was Prez and Bar Bush’s English Springer Spaniel living in the White House. I think I would have liked reading Pearly-Girl’s book because she mentioned me in Pearls of Wisdom. That was really thoughtful of her."

Odie: Remember me? I was Garfield’s non-talking pet Beagle dog. But that was just a TV role I played. Dogs can think and talk, and what Pearly-Girl has to say in her book can help a lot of people become better at everything. Everyone who wants a genuine shot at being happy and successful and have peace of mind should read this book.

Pluto: I heard that last testimonial, Odie, and I totally agree, because I had a talking part in my cartoons at Disney with Mickey Mouse. Dogs are definitely smarter than they look sometimes.

Old Yeller: "When I read about how Pearly-Girl greets her dad in her book, Pearls of Wisdom, it kinda reminded me of my lifelong friend Travis. I hope they have a long life together like we did."

Beasley: "In case you don’t remember me, I starred in the movie Hooch with Tom Hanks. I was a dogue de Bordeaux who helped my detective dad solve cases. Now being a slobbery hunk of canine, I may not have been attractive to pretty Pearly-Girl, but I was very lovable and likeable. I liked her mention of those important traits in her book, especially how she defined them for more people to be that way."

Benji: Although I wasn’t a purebred dog, I still like Pearly-Girl’s book because she also knew the value of always being at the right place at the right time to be a source of comfort to those in need. That is a most valued dog skill.

Marley: "My movie, Marley and Me, was actually based on a true story that taught humans the importance of unconditional love, just like Pearly-Girl does in her book and not just with pets and children, but with other people too."

Snoopy: In all my days of being the most sagacious dog on the planet, well at least on TV and in the comic strips for longer than I can remember, I never wrote a book myself, so Pearly-Girl, you go girl! I wish I had thought of doing what you did. Congratulations! Great book for dogs and people and even cats.

Sinbad: Hey, Pearly-Girl, congrats on writing a great book! I was in the Coast Guard and your dad was in the air force and so we’re practically kissing cousins. But I am in doggy heaven now so you will have a few years before we meet. Until then.

Preface

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Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.

—Roger Caras

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Here I am at one of my favorite spots—Gold Creek Pond at Hyak. I am about to go swimming since nobody else is up here this morning, and I don’t think anyone will mind. Gee, I was up here a month ago and it was all snowy. Let’s begin this preface with a little poem I just wrote:

What Matters Most

I really want but two things:

A happy mind & heart of peace;

God gave us three free gifts

To get this happiness and peace:

Life, love, and free will.

All the problems in life,

Come about by not knowing

What we really want,

Or what life wants from us;

From there we just get confused.

When all is said and done,

We do finally understand;

These wants are really the same:

To receive happiness and peace

By careful, mindful use

Of our three great gifts:

Life, love, and free will;

Enjoying life,

Loving freely,

Making good choices.

There are no rules,

Only lessons learned;

And the main lesson,

Is to grow

Our compassion,

Forgiveness,

And reconciliation;

Of what we want

And what God wants.

We can’t do this

Through our minds,

Only our hearts.

I am the yard guard and supervisor of the lawn mowing, but I guess mom wants me to move from my comfy spot so she can get on with the moving that I haven’t yet quite mastered, so she has to pick up the slack, unless dad has a little extra energy left over from a hard day at work and a fitness center visit before coming home for dinner. Not likely I suspect, but whoever knows. Last night he stopped off at Jersey Mike’s for a delicious giant Philly cheesesteak and some tasty cakes, both his favorites, since mom wasn’t feeling well from a head cold and wasn’t interested in cooking dinner. I guess I better get on with writing this book!

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Here is the earlier article that my dad wrote which actually inspired this book. It seems fitting for this to be the book’s preface. And this way, we will get dad’s stilted, academic writing style out of the way so it won’t interfere with the way I tell things as a dog author and won’t otherwise needlessly annoy you. I don’t like to do things needlessly because that doesn’t make any sense. Dogs only do things they need to.

Facts of Life That Get in the Way of Living

It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live.

—Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

If we didn’t think and feel so much about living, believing certain things to be true and others not, expecting desirable or undesirable outcomes, and trying to interpret everything that happens, good and bad, our lives would just go on. This would probably happen with fewer failures and more successes, but that is a fact of life that gets in the way of living. And unfortunately, we rarely see things as they are but rather the way we are—with all our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, interpretations, and expectations and all the other facts of life that get in the way of living.

One fact of life that has always gotten in the way of my living is that life is always throwing curveballs at me when I least want or expect them. But I know they will keep coming until I stop striking out and hit the ball. Here are ten other such facts of life that get in the way of living.

This list of facts of life that get in the way of living is hardly exhaustive but more of a way to motivate you to think about your own list. These are the realities we have to adapt to if we are going to be as happy, successful, and content as we would like to be. Here is something that deserves consideration: acceptance is not a weakness, but just a way to release your true strength and put you in a better position to use it to get the best results.

1. Bad Things Happen to Good People

"The saying, ‘Things happen for a reason,’ is not very comforting if you don’t know the reason or think it is unreasonable."

~ The author

This is a tough spiritual question for ministers, rabbis, and priests who all have to dig down very deep into their belief pockets to answer well enough to not get the same result of the quote above. How do we explain an all-powerful and loving God allowing tragedies like innocent children to be mercilessly slaughtered in a classroom shooting massacre, hardworking folks who lose a permanent home with everything they call theirs in a vicious storm, or young soldiers having their lives cut short by an IED in a godforsaken, sweltering desert?

The only possible answer that makes any sense and doesn’t offend our feelings is that both good and bad things inevitably happen in life, and they are not personally directed at good or bad people. And of course there is a distinct possibility that we don’t get all our answers here on earth and may just have to wait for a bigger purpose to be revealed later, which will finally make good sense and feel right about such inexplicable tragedies.

In the meantime, we just need to accept this fact of life so we can move on without letting it get in the way of our living. There is no such fairness versus unfairness war going on in the rest of nature, so any thought along these lines is just another fact of life that gets in the way of living.

2. Life’s Way Is Rarely Our Way

"If your energy is as boundless as your ambition, total commitment may be a way of life you should seriously consider."

~Dr. Joyce Brothers

From the beginning, we see that life is just not going to stop and cooperate with our needs and preferences and be the way we want it to be. It has its own way that is impossible to deny and yet we keep foolishly trying to twist it in our direction, sometimes until the mortal end.

I wonder why dad wants me to wear this stupid rain hat. It’s not raining in here. Oh well, anything for his camera, and it does shade the light.

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The problem is that sometimes enough people luck out in changing realities into ones they want and creating new and better ones than most of us have, that the rest of us get deluded into thinking it can be done. But even those few élite winners operate with a secret. They let go to the way of life until it gradually takes them where they want to