Grateful

I feel like I’ve been through the wringer for so long. Years. Decades, even. But here I am feeling as grateful as ever for so much. One of the standout things that helps me feel the way I do is finally feeling like I am part of a community. 

During Covid, my husband, Smitty, announced that he really needed a dog. My initial thought was that it would be better to wait until we finished renovating our 200+ year old farmhouse. But he REALLY needed a dog. So, he went about looking through rescue websites and was hoping to find an Australian Cattle Dog that we could take in and adore. It wasn’t long before he found one in Hillsdale, NY, and after filling out all the forms, getting recommendations from people that we know assuring why we would make great “parents” to this or any dog, we set off to see him in person. I was a little apprehensive about getting a Cattle Dog since we live in front of an Angus breeding farm, and I thought it might be too frustrating for him to not be able to herd the cattle, given that there is not one fence, but two, that separate our properties. The woman that runs the shelter told us not to worry, that we could train the dog to accept his circumstances. Half skeptical, I relented to at least go see this dog in person. Smitty also told me not to worry; if I wasn’t ‘feeling it’ we would keep looking. We showed up and it was love at first sight. He was perfect. Three or four months old, they couldn’t be certain, but he had been surrendered along with 5 brothers and sisters and he was the last one to be scooped up.  Actually, we were told that he had been adopted and returned already, but we didn’t even ask why. We were that certain he was meant to be with us. And spoiler alert, we were right! Also, it turned out that he isn’t even an Australian Cattle Dog. He is a mix of English Pointer, German Pointer, and “other”, according to an app called Dog Scanner. My husband named him Toby, after his own father.

It took a few months later to be able to start socializing Toby with other dogs. After treating him for worms, etc. and getting rid of them, he finally got the go-ahead from the vet that we could let him be around other dogs. Smitty began walking him in the mornings at a park down the road from us. After his first walk he said to me, “I think you’d like this. You should come. There are some interesting people there, and it’s fun to see the dogs play with each other. Oh, and the park is a lot bigger than we thought. There is a whole other area that we stumbled upon that is really beautiful.” So I went the next day, and he was right about all of it. It took a little while to get to know the people; the dogs were much quicker to make friendships. But within a couple of months we started to feel like we were becoming part of a community of really lovely people, who happen to be smart, funny, and kind. (And the dogs….omg, so adorable!) Since we see them most days, we have seen each other during our ups and our downs, with messy hair, pre-coffee, and wearing whatever is within easy reach in the early morning. It all feels very comfortable and something we look forward to. It didn’t take long, either, to start seeing each other socially without our dogs. As it turns out we have made friends. :)