I was brushing Lulu and Fanny yesterday while Maria was brushing Chloe and I could see how much alike these two independent and stubborn creatures are.  Chloe wanted to eat, Maria wanted to brush all of the mud off of her. Mud season seems to have come early here.

Chloe, impatient for hay, kept stomping her feet, swinging around, moving back and forth, Maria never wavered, she stomped back, moved with her, kept on brushing until Chloe was smooth and clean.

I remember back to when I met Maria and her ferocious dog Frieda tried repeatedly to eat me and drive me off. Why, I wondered, would someone get a dog that was such a handful, and so difficult to control? Then it hit me, of course, they were just alike, and those traits were precisely the reason Maria did get her and love her.

In the final analysis, we get the dog we want, we get the dog and other animals we need.

Every dog we get is the dog we need, and quite often, we make them that way, dogs survive and find  safety in this world by becoming what they sense their humans want them to be.

Orson was the spark plug that got me out of a life I didn’t wish to be in.

Rose was the pioneer and brave dog who watched my back as I struggled to learn how to live on a farm.

Izzy was the dog who brought me to hospice and therapy work, and a better understanding of my own mortality.

Frieda was the dog I needed to get Maria to trust me.

Simon was an animal who changed my ideas about openness and trust.

Red is the dog I need now, quiet, intelligent, able to enter my live and move it forward. Red inspires and guides me.

And in Chloe (and Fate) Maria has the animals she needs, strong, rebellious, independent creatures who have big hearts,  their own agendas,  and a keen distaste for being told what to do.