Do I Have to Love a Dog?

My dear, dear friends: if God loved us like this,

we certainly ought to love each other... if we love

one another, God dwells deeply within us, and His love

becomes complete in us - perfect love!

1 John 4:11-12

I downloaded this picture above from the Internet - typing in a random search for pit bull photos.  When this one popped up, I couldn't believe my eyes.  This photo is a dead ringer for the dog that lives next door to me.   When I was looking to purchase my house, no one mentioned the fact that there was a pit bull living next door, much less an aggressive male pit bull named Caesar.  The dog stays indoors most of the time, but when it needs to relieve itself, the 20-something female owner just lets the dog out the front door by itself [never mind the county leash laws], and waits until the dog [eventually] returns and scratches to get in.  If you happen to be outside at the same time as Caesar, you had better have Harry Potter's invisibility cloak, or you will be faced with a charging pit bull.

To say that I am not fond of the dog is putting it mildly.  He has pinned me against my front door, pinned me in my car, jumps the fence and uses my backyard as a toilet, and I have called Animal Control time and time again, which has not endeared me to his owner.  Last week when her live-in boyfriend was slapping her around in the early morning, she called the cops.  When the police arrived at the home, Caesar bolted out the door and charged an officer getting out of his squad car, who promptly shot the dog in the side.   The bullet bounced off a rib and exited, leaving an angry officer and a pit bull that needed $800 worth of surgery to close the gash, which didn't improve Caesar's attitude at all.

If ever there was a family that needs Christian compassion and the Savior's love, it is this one.  The female adult in the house works for the airlines, is constantly away from home, and is completely blind to her daughter's foibles.  Daughter and boyfriend are both involved in drugs and alcohol.  Preschool age granddaughter is basically raised by the man who rents an apartment above the garage and has been a long-time friend of the mother's.  He and I have become friends and I try to show God's love to him.  The others in the house?  Sadly, the dog is a blockade I cannot/will not pass.  I smile, wave, speak, and try to remember to pray for them, but I keep my distance.