We can project all kinds of things onto our dogs, most people do. I feel the greatest connection with dogs not when they are becoming my emotional soothers, but when they are being themselves, fitting themselves into my life, serving me as dogs have done for so many thousands of years. Such a spiritual moment comes on Macmillan Road, where I walk every day, and where I often get distracted and stop to take photos, to look at the trees or the lights and shadows. I imagine sometimes it is difficult to be my dog, but Red and Lenore do it so gracefully it is very powerful for me, and very spiritual, as great dogs bred to work with humans often are. I stopped a dozen times on Macmillan Road today to take photos, and it wasn’t until the fourth or fifth time that I looked up and realized that every time I stopped, Red and Lenore stopped too.

I realized I paid no attention to them when I took the camera out, I just assumed they would be there, near me. I have not appreciated this, how meaningful it is to have two dogs who will do that, enter into my life and work, and not run off or bark or cause me any difficulty, but in a ritual of trust and attention, wait for me to to my work. I do not worry that they are impatient or not happy. I never have to yell at them (except sometimes when Lenore has pulled up some unspeakable dead thing and starts eating it.) I know that this what they love, were bred to me, that gives them meaning. They are not my soul mates, my best friends. Maria is better for that. Is it training? Perhaps. But real training is spiritual, not about obedience. Real training guides dogs to live with us, not in their own world alongside of us. I appreciated these dogs today, and thanked them for their patience and faithfulness.