A Bone Fell from the Sky

Several years ago, when Jennifer and I were still in college, I had a giant schnauzer named Rosie.

I know what you’re thinking. How could you have a giant schnauzer and not a dire wolf dog?

There was an age before The Dire Wolf Project sat in the middle of our living room. Hard to believe, right?

Jennifer found Rosie while working with a breeder. Rosie was all black and very, very, very beautiful. In fact, in her life, she had earned a Champion status in the show ring for her breed.

Those of you who know me, know how precious Yeti is to me and before that how precious Cricket was. Well, Rosie was the first to reach this status. I had three very special dogs in my life, Rosie, Cricket, and Yeti.

Rosie had a favorite toy. It was a white fleece toy in the shape of a large dog bone. She LOVED that toy! It would squeak whenever she chewed it. And when she was extremely happy, she would literally scoop up the toy sending it straight up in the air, watch it land, and then pounce on it!

That was my Rose-Rose!

One evening I was staying over at Jennifer’s studio cabin when something in my back went out. Funny… I’m only in my early thirties and my back goes out, right? But it did.

I had to move from the bed to the floor, the pain was so intense. Rosie, in her deep-rooted wisdom, knew things were not okay with me. As I lay on the carpeted floor seeking a comfortable position, she did something I did not expect.

She took up her favorite white fleece bone that squeaked, walked over to where I was curled up on the floor, and dropped the toy on top of me.

A bone fell from the sky!

I remember feeling it before I knew what she was even there. PLUNK! The toy landed on my left arm. I could feel the soft fleece material on my bare skin.

I looked up, first at the toy, then at Rosie who stood over me, her bearded mouth and sad eyes looking down at me. She had offered me something extraordinary. She gave me what was most important to her.

I don’t mind sharing with you that I am a very complex individual. I’m an empath capable of feeling other’s pain. I have moments when I don’t want to face the world. I can feel like I am in a hole I cannot climb out of. In that moment, I just want everyone and everything to go away.

Except for my girl Yeti. She can stay.

But here is the interesting part. We bring in Chisel for training. He is such a great dog in our humble abode I find myself bonding with him, saying,

“You’re a keeper too!”

This is the greatest compliment I can give a dog.

If Chisel’s family had managed to change their mind about having him before he was delivered to Florida, I would not have minded keeping him.

Chisel is now gone. We bring Barracuda in the house. And I find myself saying,

“You’re a keeper too!”

And in a few weeks, we will have our long time beloved Cookie Monster in the house.

Hmmm… I wonder what my words to him will be…

Like the others, I will come to find in him what I find in the others, the dog who loves so deeply and unconditionally, would give up their favorite fleece bone toy the moment they sense things aren’t right with me.

And in their own way, they will drop the bone of love out of the sky, never to be satisfied until I was better.

My uncle is 92. He lives alone. He too is a complex individual.

In the past few decades, he has had a dog by his side every day, because that is what fills his emptiness, LOVE when love cannot be found.

My uncle now homes Jengu. He absolutely loves her. She has become his antidote to loneliness and despair. She is his champion. She is his everything.

If you are without a companion such as these, it may just be time. You won’t find a better gift anywhere than with one of our dogs. Puppy or adult, in the end, it is all the same.

https://direwolfdogs.com/dogs-for-sale/

Next month we’re putting out the theme, “No greater love” for Valentine’s day. You’ll love what Jennifer and Jody are cooking up in the gift shop.

Oh, and if you happen to have a white fleece bone toy you would like to drop on our friend Beth in Massachusetts (see yesterday’s email), you can do so at:

shop.direwolfproject.com

Note: (Or send directly: every dollar sent to Jody Lynn’s Venmo account, @JodyJanisse, will go straight to Beth.)

Jennifer Stoeckl is the co-founder of the Dire Wolf Project, founder of the DireWolf Guardians American Dirus Dog Training Program, and owner/operator of DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito. She lives in the beautiful inland northwest among the Ponderosa pine forests with her pack of American Dirus dogs.