A HUNTING DOGS PRAYER

I thank Thee, Oh Lord, for the rivers, woods, and fields wherein lie the game birds I love to hunt. I thank Thee also for the men and women who protect and preserve wildlife in all its forms so that future generations will have the healthful pleasures of hunting and fishing. My master means more than life or death to me, and I pray for intelligence, ability, and strength to understand and execute his or her commands and desires. May our companionship lead to complete understanding so that our moments will be the happiest of all. Help my master to comprehend that I will gladly give my life for them, be they millionaire or pauper. Their love and confidence are all I ask. I beseech you to guide him or her and protect them from thoughts, deeds, or actions which will disturb the faith of others in them. I want my master to be respected by their friends as I look up to them. The wag of my tail indicated the feelings of my heart, and no blows, privation, or hunger will ever keep me from being happy when I hear my master’s voice or footsteps. When the curtains of death are about to close my active life, I pray Thee, oh, God, that my master be near, their hand caressing my head as my eyelids close.