Christmas Miracles DO Exist...For Dogs

By Sam Bakken in News on Dec 23, 2004 9:27PM

If movies about time travel with overweight angels don't convince you that Christmas miracles do occur, try this heart-warming story about "Tess" the cancerous K-9. It didn't convince us either.

Tess is a 7-year-old German shepard and a former member of the DuPage County Sheriff's Police Department's K-9 unit. In November Tess was asked to leave the unit after the sheriff learned she'd been diagnosed with kidney cancer. Tess sniffed out human remains for the department and, according to ABC7Chicago, "...has a nose worth its weight in gold." We're not sure how much a dog's nose weighs or if the entire snout is included, but it looks like gold is currently worth about $442 an ounce.

Unfortunately dogs don't receive the same retirement package that police officers do and her bills for chemotherapy and surgery exceeded $1500. Her former employer wouldn't pay. That's where West Side Chicago group "4 The People" stepped in and raised the money necessary to grant Tess a Christmas wish.

The dog's owner and former handler Bill Shreffler told ABC7, "I think maybe these things happen for a reason around Christmas...to make people think there's a lot of good people in this world."

Well sure, but maybe they should also think about the sick and poor PEOPLE in the world. The dog didn't ask to be saved anyway. Maybe she was ready to sign off. Dogs are cute and all, but so are some children. Hey Mr. Earley, "4 The PEOPLE" right? You could have distributed 500 Christmas dinners or helped with a HUMAN child's medical bills.

Image courtesy of Pastor Curtis Bond.