What does your choice of animal family members say about you?
How often have you seen people with pets who resemble them? Some pretty funny photographs show this phenomenon in books and on the Internet. If you've lived with an animal for a while, you may have noticed that animals also reflect your qualities, characteristics, and personality traits. A depressed person has a sad-eyed dog. A chatty guy has a talkative parrot. The animal companion of a gentle woman is a kind and affectionate cat.
We are finding out how much of this is true with our animal family members.
When we take our dog for walks around a nearby lake, we often pass a mild-mannered man with a timid gait who always averts his eyes. A little dog runs alongside him, growling and showing her teeth to everyone. This dog could be a mirror for the man's excessive fears.
As people tell us about significant animals in their lives, we've observed how the animals often serve as spiritual report cards. More often than not, memorable spiritual experiences with animals chart a person's progress toward or away from having more love, peace, and fulfillment.
What does your choice of animal family members say about you?
Categories: Observations, Amazing Angel Animals, Articles about Animals
I’m not sure that I’ve chosen any of my dogs. I think they have found me. In January 2004, I had taken my very old dog Rusty to the vet for the last time. He had been a stray, adopted from the local animal shelter. His liver was failing and he was very ill and in pain. It was his time to go. After he passed on, I went out to the truck where Rainbow waited. She was his pal, a much younger and higher energy dog. I took her in to see that Rusty had passed on, then took her back to the truck, ready to drive home. But I decided to go back into the clinic to get her a chew toy. I knew she would need something to keep her busy as the only dog. In the clinic, a blue cattle dog was standing at the counter with an unfamiliar woman. I was surprised because I didn’t see cattle dogs often and hadn’t seen them before at the clinic. I asked the woman if it was okay to pet her dog, and told her that I had just lost my cattle dog mix. She encouraged me to pet the blue girl, Opal, and told me that she had a red puppy in the car. He was the last one of the litter and he didn’t have a home yet. People on her waiting list had been looking for blues. I told her that I had another red heeler mix in the truck and that we like the reds at our house! I hadn’t even had a chance to think about where my next dog would come from. Rusty was very old, but had fallen ill rather suddenly.
Louanne told me that while she was driving over, she had been thinking about finding the red puppy a new home. She offered to get him from the car to show me. I told her that I couldn’t make a decision on a new dog right away and that Rainbow was probably upset about Rusty passing on. But Louanne brought the red pup over. He had Rusty’s double mask and red ears. He was a very nice, bold, playful puppy and I was taken with him right away. He and Rainbow got along from the beginning. I asked Louanne for references. I would need some time to make a decision. We exchanged information and Rainbow and I went home.
I kept thinking about that puppy. It was clear that Rainbow needed a playmate. I did my homework, checked Louanne’s website, and contacted her references, and two weeks later, Bandit joined our family. The amazing thing is that I had made an appointment for the vet to come to my home at the end of the day to put Rusty down. But Rusty was suddenly in so much pain that I didn’t want to wait. Louanne lived over an hour away and this was not her regular vet. She was visiting my vet to have a special procedure done on Opal, and had brought puppy Bandit along for the ride. She had no idea what my deceased dog Rusty had looked like. If I hadn’t gone back in to the clinic to get Rainbow a chew toy, Opal would not have caught my eye and I would not have met Bandit.
Now that I have Bandit, circumstances that brought us together seem to be more than coincidence. We were meant to be together. The only red ACD puppy for miles around, Bandit found me just moments after Rusty passed on.
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