My Wolf Dog Helpers
My dogs are my greatest teachers. They are my children, my friends and companions, and
my helpers. It is rare that they are not by my side.
We share a home and roam the land together. They teach me about caring for and loving them regardless of how I may be feeling myself. They are frequently a very important presence for the people who visit me for help. They teach me about presence and alertness. But they also teach me about the consequences of carelessness and recklessness. They are wild and instinctual and they get to live out this side of their nature because of the life we share. But this means they live in a far more dangerous world than backyard dogs. They suffer injuries chasing deer, rabbits, javelinas, and skunks. The skunks are most often what they catch. These injuries lead to shorter lives when they can’t walk anymore. The potential for accidental death is always present. Dogs and wolves do not live nearly as long as we do, even when they die of old age. In the last 25 years, five of my dogs have returned to being wolf spirits again.certainty that I will lose what I love, and that emptiness will visit me along with a host of feelings depending on unique story of that loss.