I’ve not had just two dogs for many years, and it is different, quiet. I see Lenore looking for Izzy on our walks, the two of them always went ahead together sniffing the woods carefully for the stories of the world. I’ve chosen another dog, Red, from Virginia, a working border collie who is also looking for a good home and a car to ride around in.

I receive a lot of messages with assumptions about my getting  a dog. I am getting Red to heal from the loss of Izzy and Rose. I am rescuing Red from a life of hard work. I do not get dogs for healing, or as a moral imperative. Many Americans see getting a dog as an emotional or philanthropic decision, as in the many messages I get urging me to consider rescuing a dog, as if I have never thought of it or heard of it (at the moment, I have rescue dogs, chickens, donkeys). I do not see a dog as a moral choice for me, or as an emotional one. I am as cold-blooded as I can be when it comes to choosing a dog. What is best the for the dog? What is best for me? My family? My other dogs? My work? If that means rescuing a dog, fine, if it means going to a great breeder, that is also fine. I do not ever tell anyone how to get a dog, or try to manipulate or guilt-trip someone into getting a dog because it will make me feel good, as opposed to being the best and safest place for the dog to be.

Many dogs pay with their lives for the human tendency to choose them – sometimes to exploit them – so that we can feel better about ourselves in a disconnected world. Dogs chosen for the wrong reasons often have behavioral problems (millions of dogs are returned to shelters because people cannot train or live with them), dog bites on humans are epidemic – rising about 47 per cent a year, according to the Center for Disease Control and the American Pediatric Association. Rescuing a dog can be wonderful, it can be a problem, and the same goes for buying one from a breeder.

I tread carefully and thoughtfully. I want the dog to be happy and I want me to be happy. Maria, too, and Frieda and Lenore. And the donkeys and sheep. And barn cats and chickens. And people in bookstores and readers of the blog and editors in New York.   Red has been around other dogs all of his life, as a herding demonstration dog is nearly unflappable, can help me with the work I need on the farm, and also hopefully blend into my dog family – Frieda, who needs an acclimation period but then accepts other dogs, and Lenore, who loves all living things. I predict she will bond closely with Red. I am also thinking of Maria. Red is a dog who could hang around her Studio sometimes and who loves to walk and work with people. I expect she will learn to work with Red and sheep. And I never again mean to see a dog of mine harming a human. Red has a lot of experience around people.

I have learned to never listen to anyone who tries to tell me how I should get a dog, but to turn inward.  Getting a dog is not like going to Church or feeding the homeless. Bringing an animal into the home requires a lot of thought and care for me. I always ask myself how I wish to live with this dog, what do I know about his or her temperament, how will he fit into the rythyms and cycles of my life. And I love working it through with with a savvy and experienced breeder like Karen Thompson. She asked the right questions and answered all of mine. She understands what I need. And what Red needs.

The odds are good, when a dog is chosen in that way. I’ve had the greatest luck with that approach. Rose, Izzy, Lenore all came about in that way, Julius and Stanley before them, Pearl and Clementine. Frieda, well Frieda is her own story, working out in a different way. I think Red works in all of the ways that are important for me.