Saved By Your Best Friend

How do you describe your best friend? Loving, faithful, trusting and trustworthy, protective, and intelligent, they all come to mind. When you realize your best friend is your counterpart then you realize you have the perfect match. Mine just so happens to be a canine. If I were a dog, I would be Asher, my seven-year-old male Siberian Husky.

It is by pure chance that Asher and I became united. As a matter of fact, it was actually fate that brought us together. A simple phone call from my cousin would forever change the way Asher and I would both live our lives. Neither of us had ever laid eyes on each other when I picked him up. Our very first meeting was the beginning of a new life for both of us.

You see, Asher was a rescue. Yes, he only had one more strike by the animal control officer in Florence, Mississippi and he would be put to sleep. My cousin Jennifer, God bless her, called me and explained Asher's situation to me. They had gotten him from one of her husband's coworkers. Asher loved his new home and his new family. Everything was good.

What they didn't know was that Asher was an escape artist. Despite all of their efforts they simply couldn't keep him in the backyard. When he was outside, he only wanted to discover what was on the other side of that tall wooden fence and he would subsequently dig underneath and be gone.

Jennifer knew I lived on a farm in the country and thought it would be perfect for Asher. Jennifer's family loved Asher so much that the thought of giving him up was heartbreaking. However, Jennifer and her husband Chris also knew how much it would hurt the family if Asher were to be caught again by animal control and face a certain ending.

With me being an animal lover and a dog lover, I knew I wanted to at least entertain the idea of having him. I agreed to make the two-hour, one-way, drive to check him out and now I am very thankful and blessed that I did. From the moment I saw him I was in love.

Asher was a very big Husky, weighing around 80 lbs. And, of course, he was very noble and handsome. I could tell from his demeanor that he was very well-behaved, very protective, very intelligent, and was definitely an alpha male.

I knew I wanted to take him home with me and after the sad goodbyes I loaded him into the front passenger seat of my old Tahoe and we hit the road for the ride back to my farm. Most of the way, he simply held his head out the window enjoying the wind. Every now and then he would lick my hand and face to let me know he was okay with the new arrangement.

That was almost six years ago. I knew from the moment I met him that I loved him. Little did I know he and I would be so much alike and have so much in common. I certainly had no idea the adventures he and I would have together nor how much fun he would be.

Naturally, at the farm, also known as The Hill, Asher is more than at home. He has plenty of space to run and have fun and he is never in worry of an animal control officer trying to run upon him attempting to incarcerate him with an inevitable death sentence.

On the farm, Asher has a bevy of different animals to warrant his attention. There are other dogs of course, as well as a lot of cats. But there are also horses, cows, goats, and pigs none of which he had ever laid eyes upon before. The farm is enough to keep him as busy as it does me. Asher has become my perfect helper. Asher makes every step I make.

Besides the farm, Asher also enjoys my other activities. He loves to go walking at the local city park and hiking in the woods. Asher is always a companion and a comfort to me when we go camping, always alert to anything and everything that will sound off in the darkness. He loves to hear coyotes howl and will howl back in response.

It gets quite hot in Mississippi during the summer months. Naturally, Asher being a Husky particularly loves the cooler temps of late fall, winter, and early spring. While we don't usually get much snow in Mississippi, there have been winters when we have and Asher loves it. He has so much fun playing in it and he seems to feel at home in it. His first snow experience was quite amusing. He really didn't know what to think about it and almost refused to come back into the house.

Asher is a very loving dog and loves attention. He is a people dog without a doubt. Each person he meets he can tell if they are friendly or foe and acts accordingly. Each summer, in the last week of July, there is the Neshoba County Fair. Our family has one of over 600 cabins and it happens to be located on the racetrack. I will walk Asher and people flock to him wanting to pet him. Asher eats it up.

Not only does he love the attention he gets from people while at the fairgrounds, but he also loves to watch horse races. I really can’t explain what the obsession is with the horses. Maybe it comes from being around horses on the farm, but he certainly does get into it. I really don’t blame him; I like horse racing too.

My cousin Jennifer realized his worth and knew all he needed was a chance to be loved and free. There is no doubt, Asher is a very happy dog and knows he is loved. What he also seems to know is how much he has meant to me. I didn’t only save him and provide him with the freedom to be a happy dog. Asher has surely returned the gesture.

You see, I'm a rescue too. I have always considered myself to be damaged goods. I suffer from anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Through Asher, I found what I couldn’t find in people, places, and things alone. With Asher, I have found peace and happiness like no other. With him, I am never lonely and never alone.

Thank God for Asher and for Jennifer being able to see what Asher and I could and would mean for each other. God works in mysterious ways. In this case, He allowed two best friends to save each other.