It is a unique and beautiful thing when you can get the dog you want for one reason or another. I’ve been fortunate in my life to have this happen more than once.
I’ve had several remarkable dogs and been happy to share them with you – Rose, Izzy, Red, Lenore, Frieda. Zinnia is different from the others.
She has a sweetness about her that feels special to me; we seem to be able to read the minds of each other and share a closeness that is healing, affirming, and quite beautiful.
The great dogs mark the passages of our lives, and just as Fate is marking Maria’s, Zinnia is marking mine. She is just the right dog for me now.
This afternoon, I set aside a few hours to sleep – a new Ann Cleaves mystery. I love British mysteries; they are distracting and calming and restful for the active mind.
When I read, I usually take my shoes off. I don’t even really notice it anymore, but Zinnia comes over almost every time and puts her head on my foot, either flat on the ground or dangling from a foot still. I don’t usually see it; I am distracted.
It is her way of making a connection with me. She can lie there for an hour or longer, and I feel this rather than consciously know it. Maria was walking by this afternoon and took this photo.
Does she know this is the foot that will be operated on in a few weeks? I can’t know, today, it felt like it.
I love Zinnia very much for her devotion and sweet nature. I have loved all of my dogs very much, and the exciting thing is that I loved each one of them in different ways.
Rose for her courage and loyalty and intelligence; Red for his integrity and great skill and big heart; Frieda for her wildness and care for Maria, Zinnia for our purely loving connection with one another.
We are lucky when we get the dogs we want.
Sometimes you have to work at it; sometimes, they walk in the door. Sometimes, you dream them into the world.
I think of my friend Cynthia Daniello down in Virginia, who lost one dog she loves and fought to find another, a beat-up abandoned and deaf old mute who turned their relationship. Cynthia is a hero of mine, one of the people I most admire.
She called him Edgar; he seemed sick, angry, and completely unwanted.
From her wheelchair, and at age 88, Cynthia is more agile and active than almost anyone I know, and she set out to flip this wreck of a dog and learn to communicate with him.
Edgar is a new dog. The shelter had given up on him; that’s why they gave him to her. But all he needed was Cynthia. He was her dog.
This has all been a great success, and she got the dog she wanted and needed. Edgar is a loving creature now, gentle as a puppy.
Of course, the rescue people thought Cynthia was too old, and they wouldn’t give her a dog, but she found a shelter that knew better, for one reason or another.
Cynthia is tough and stubborn.
Edgar was a nightmare, even before she learned he was deaf. He attacked dogs and cats, blew off all of her commands until her vet confirmed her suspicions. Edgar was deaf, and nobody had noticed in the first four years of his life.
If Cynthia, at age 88, died today, she was the best thing that ever happened to Edgar. Almost anyone would want him now.
All he needed was love and patience, and training; she learned a new kind of signing to bring him back to love and love. Cynthia inspires me every day, especially when I look at this photo of Zinnia.
Her story reminds me again and again of the miracle and joy of getting the dog you want.
I am so heartened by your “you get the dog you want” with Zinnia on your foot.
I had a wonderful Border Collies, Daisy Dog, a rescue from the Maricopa County Pound in 2006 (after I had lost my lab/boxer Fergus to prostate cancer.) Daisy fultilled my Canadian life for 15.5 year, passing in June 2020. I was bereft. I then was fortunate enough to rescue a dog in a shelter from Moose Jaw about 40 miles from me in Regina, SK, Canada, who is a lovely female Border Collie, looks much like Fate, is a heterochromia, and also was 13.5 years. Dear Molly Anne is now 14.5 years, enjoying life to the fullest, and I am blessed….can hardly keep up with her at times. You are right: we get the dog we want at the right time….many blessings….
Carolee
And there’s also Orson.
I have had many dogs in my life, but 3 different Goldens in the last 26 year: My calm and elegant Nancy who taught my husband and I that I could train a dog, Callie who was my rock through my husband’s cancer and death and continues to be my buddy, and Ms. Freddie who helped pull me out of my grief with her snuggles and goofy antics. You are so right that we get the dog we need at different times in our life.
I always loved your books but had to quit reading because they always died. Please don’t let Zinnia die for a long time.
I’m afraid death is a part of loving dogs, they don’t live as long as we do. One comes with the other…she most likely will die within the next 10 years, I accept that as part of the process of loving them…I can promise you that she will die, even if I am not here to see it..
I have a little dog now, one of 3. He is as sweet as pie in the house except when the mailman comes. I love him in the house. Outdoors on walks – he’s a little monster! He viciously launches himself at any other dogs we encounter, barking like a maniac. He tries to throw himself under the wheels of moving vehicles and has tried to bite several people. I am having some luck fighting the car chasing on leash but not the others. The other 2 dogs I have are sweet and well behaved – & boring! I love the little stinker! Yes, I am trying to train him to act better, but progress is painfully slow.
…and Homer? Wondering how Homer is…
Homer is very, very, dead, and for many years..
Sad to hear Cynthia died but God bless her for her devotion to Edgar. Hope he finds a wonderful home.
Cynthia Daniello is not dead, I’m not sure where you heard that but it is false. She is very much alive and healthy and doing great work with her dog. I only posted this in case someone is spreading false rumors about here.