I’ve had several dogs who belong to many people, not just me – Orson, Lenore, Izzy, Frieda, Rose Red and now, Zinnia. I had trouble adjusting to this reality – there were always a lot of opinions, good and bad about how I treat my dogs – but I have learned to deal with it.

A lot of people already love Zinnia and she isn’t even mine yet. I have a bunch of offers from people and places that wish to socialize her. For a therapy dog, this can be good news: she is already welcome and loved in many places and this will help her feel loved and comfortable with all kinds of people.

It’s time I prepare myself for having a dog that belongs to a lot of people. My life is an open life I have no secrets. With that, comes a lot of attention.

It also means I am once again under scrutiny for my decisions and ideas about dogs and training and how to get them. I’m a big boy, I can handle it, and I’ve asked for it, haven’t I?

I’m used to people grieving longer for my dead dogs than I have. Used to getting criticized for buying a dog, for the foods I  use, for my training methods, for my ideas on euthanasia and grieving.

I don’t like being told what to write, or how to raise my dogs, but I am almost daily and am learning how to accept it and deal with. It is entirely my fault, I write about these dogs and photograph them, I can’t really squawk when people care about them.

Sometimes all this input is very helpful, and sometimes it is both supportive and affirming. I need to take the bad with the good.

As we prepare for Zinnia, I am realizing that a lot of people are following her journey and are eager to see her and learn about her. In my community, a dozen people and places have asked to help socialize her, and I plant to take almost all of them up on their offer, it will be good preparation for a therapy dog.

At Bishop Maginn High School and the Mansion, students and residents pepper me with questions about Zinnia? When is she coming? Do I have photos? When will they meet her?

I am learning, growing more self-aware, more mature, perhaps. I welcome this interest. She will feel especially loved when she enters our world. She will trust and love people. Like me, she will work and live in the public eye. It is a special kind of life and a different kind of life.

She will make them smile and soothe their woes. And yes, I understand that she will belong to many people beyond me and Maria. It will drive me crazy sometimes, but I will also be grateful for it most of the time. This, I believe, is where special dogs come from.