Dog Pearls
A new series that celebrates the wisdom and love of dogs,
encouraging adoptions and a deeper connection with animals
The first two Dog Pearls are completed!
Coming Home
Spirit Dog
This series follows two earlier Pearls featuring dogs: Special Gifts and Dr. Willie.
Upcoming Dog Pearls are listed below and also here: UPCOMING PEARLS
Our Dog Stars page spotlights each dog filmed. We filmed 27 dogs plus dog park "extras" in multiple locations in the summer and fall of 2008. We have several hours' worth of great raw HD footage and are now eager to create these "tiny films"! See photos and
bios of our 27 Dog Stars and two Spirit Dogs at: OUR DOG STARS
YOUR do(g)nations can help us create these Pearls! DO(G)NATIONS
As do(g)nations come in, we can post your listings and dog photos on linked pages
at any of the giving levels. You, your dog, your business, etc. can JOIN OUR PACK!
Overview: All Little Pearls capture the essence of those on camera, yet they speak to
the universal.
These dogs represent ALL dogs, and by extension, all sentient beings, including humans. They are spiritual in the broadest sense.
The painful yet spiritually rich experience of losing Katie, a much-loved family dog, is evolving into a series of Little Pearls
that celebrate the wisdom and love of dogs.
Because dogs and other companion animals can enrich our lives beyond measure, we hope these Dog Pearls encourage you to bring them into your heart and home whenever you can. Dogs can be our wise and gentle guides for living, loving and dying with grace, helping our hearts break open to the power of Love.
We also hope these Pearls inspire you to be as open as possible to intuitive guidance and serendipity for bringing animals into your life. The guidance is always there, when we listen.
Any animal organization anywhere can freely use these Pearls in their own programs to promote adoptions. Rescued animals and those adopted from shelters and foster programs are especially grateful for the chance to love and be loved, and YOU will be grateful, too!
The story behind these Pearls: On March 12, 2008, Little Pearls Executive/Creative Director Linda and her family had to send their older dog Katie on her journey to dog heaven. Four days later, listening to Irish pipes in a song that went straight to her heart, Linda had a vision of Katie, running up a green mountain ridgeline in complete freedom and joy.
Through streaming tears, Linda realized that Katie’s best friend Mitch, still a puppy at heart at age 12, could serve as the physical stand-in for Katie (and for all dogs who have run and bounced into Spirit) in a new Little Pearl. The initial idea for these Dog Pearls was born.
This original vision evolved over time, as Mitch slowly fell in love with his new sidekick Gracie, a puppy who serendipitously appeared soon after Katie died. Katie and Gracie share several remarkably similar traits. Katie’s presence remained strong for a long time, offering a guiding paw as her family learned to go on without her and as Gracie learned her way around.
Dogs know all about Love. They do not seem to fear death, even when they have to leave loved ones behind. Animals instinctively know that death is a natural part of life.
Dogs can show a way to love that we humans often find difficult: feeling all
the emotions fully and moving through them, instead of getting stuck and closing down our hearts. Animals seem to know about letting go when it’s time, and also about welcoming someone new into their lives and hearts, even, sometimes, in the midst of grief.
Here are some upcoming Dog Pearls, with working titles, as they are unfolding now. Most will be spoken in "first dog" from the perspective of the dogs themselves:
27 really good dogs are waiting to be stars in new Pearls.
Funding is needed now!
A bit of background on So Many Dogs, So Little Time: When Katie was sick, Linda was walking Mitch alone and a man crossed the street to get a closer look at this beautiful old dog. In talking about Katie's illness, Linda said she just wished animals could live longer.
We’ve all heard – and may have said ourselves – that the most difficult thing about loving dogs is that they don’t live as long as we do. Some people never welcome another dog into their lives because it hurts too much to lose them. This stranger said something very different: that HE couldn't live long enough to have all the dogs he'd love to have.
As humans, with our much longer life spans, we are blessed with the opportunity to love many dogs. This is true for cats and many other companion animals, too.
Changes the perspective, doesn’t it?
There are so many great animals longing for homes where they can give love and be loved. We hope to encourage more adoptions, as many as any one of us can welcome in our own lifetime. Let your heart be broken open to LOVE!
Our Dog Pearl mountaintop "shoot" was June 19, 2008 Take a look!
(this photo gallery does not return to this page unless you click back through each photo - we're working on it - please come back through your link to this page)
Pamela Stringer, our Little Pearls intern, took candid shots of the five dogs (older big guys Mitch and Tucker, young adult Lucy and puppies Gracie and Lola) and the seven people involved in the shoot on a beautiful day. Pamela captured the exquisite beauty of the Upper Laurel Community in Madison County, on the North Carolina/Tennessee state line. This shoot came together quickly - what fun! Here is Tucker, surveying the scene:
Don’t be dismayed at good-byes.
A farewell is necessary before you can meet again.
And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.
- Richard Bach from Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
All photos on this page (except the Dog Pearl images at the top, a couple
Dog Stars
and our hand/pearl logo) courtesy of Jim Stokoe
OUR DOG STARS l DO(G)NATIONS
Coming Home
Spirit Dog
