Why the Dog Sits Out in the Cold

Plus a giveaway of Sy Garte's new book: Beyond Evolution

Nov 01, 2025

When we built our barn a few years back, we incorporated the canine equivalent of five-star accommodations. A big overhang shelters three spacious kennels. Dog “nests,” built inside the insulated barn itself, allow the pups to curl deep into blankets, untouched by wind or precipitation.

Though our old girl Mamba has passed now, her sister Rose still loves her doghouse. Even when the kennel doors stand wide and the dogs can run, we’ll often find her burrowed deep in her nest, sound asleep.

Not so with Doozy, age three. That dog refuses to climb in her nest.

Take today, for instance. Though a gale is blowing chill rain sideways, and though her doghouse boasts a heated mat designed to coddle newborn piglets, she’s shivering on the concrete in her outside kennel, like a tragic heroine in a wilderness survival movie. I didn’t get a pic of her in her misery, but you wouldn’t want to see it anyway. (I snapped the photo below on a kinder morning.)

Even feeding her inside her nest doesn’t convince her to take shelter there. She’ll dart into the doghouse to eat, then leap right back out to hunch in the wind and stare at the window where I sit at my desk.

Her fur’s no help. She’s got that sleek field-dog coat—without any undercoat. It’s great for blasting through thickets, but terrible for November gusts. No fluffy malamute here. Just one skinny girl awaiting rescue.

So I do exactly that. This time it took her less than an hour to convince me.

Aw, come in the house, baby. Want your dog bed by the fire? Sure thing. Here you go . . .

Think she’ll ever learn? Will I?

***

“Try your best to come to me before winter”.

—2 Timothy 4:21

***

📙📙📙 FROM MY BOOKERY:

A WINNER!

CONGRATULATIONS to MELISSA HARTLEY! You won a copy of Katie Powner’s new novel When the Road Comes Around ! Please send me your postal address, Melissa, and I’ll mail you this wonderful novel.

***

And a NEW RELEASE . . .

Many of you know I’m a diehard fan of Sy Garte’s prior books The Works of His Hands and Science and Faith in Harmony.

Now, this PhD biochemist and man of faith has released another thoughtful work that’s again highly accessible—not only to scientists, but to lay readers like me.

Written with wonder and warmth, you won’t want to miss Beyond Evolution: How New Discoveries in the Science of Life Point to God .

Here’s the gist:

Is it possible that one of the biggest obstacles to harmonizing science and faith can finally be overcome? Respected biologist and former atheist Sy Garte says the answer is yes.

A flash point for much of the science vs. faith divide has been Darwinian evolution. Sharing the same mistaken belief that science contradicts the Bible, especially the Genesis account of creation, many scientists and many Christians have concluded that the worlds of science and religion are at odds.

But according to Garte, evolution is irrelevant to the harmony of faith and science. And revolutionary new developments in biology are providing stronger evidence than ever before of a purposeful creator God.

In his new book, Dr. Garte combines the latest research with a biblical worldview as he explains:

how scientific progress has been hindered by the reluctance of many biologists to follow the evidence wherever it leads because of their fear of opening the door to theism
why misunderstandings about both the Bible and science have caused many people to unnecessarily abandon Christianity
why evolution by natural selection isn’t as important to science as many people think―and why it matters
how new evidence of purpose, agency, and decision-making at the cellular level points to a creator God
how a reductionist, purely materialistic view of life ignores new advances in science

In Beyond Evolution, Sy Garte challenges both scientists and people of faith to follow the evidence wherever it leads―and argues powerfully for why that evidence warrants a belief in God.

***

Fabulous stuff in these pages, friends. I celebrate his wonderful analyses, and trust you will, too.

If you’re a subscriber, you can win a hardcover copy (with a bookplate signed by the author)!

To enter, reply with BEYOND in the subject line. I’ll drop your name in the hat and will announce the winner at the end of November.

***

Meanwhile, frigid rain is pelting our windows and flattening thousands of leaves on our lawn. Brings to mind the year some high school prankster friends of our kids TP’d the trees around our house—right before a similar storm. Took more than a rake to clean that mess up.

Laughing helped.