Heart Dog

One of my pet sitting clients recently referred to one of her dogs as being her “Heart Dog”.  As she defined it, a Heart Dog is that one dog in your life with whom you have an especially close bond.  It immediately struck me because of all the dogs, cats and horses who have been members of our family, my Sosa is definitely my Heart Dog. 

Sosa came into my life ten years ago as a one year old terrier mutt who needed a home.  He showed up at the barn where I kept my horse at the time, in the company of a horse trader, who had some story about the dog being from Puerto Rico and in need of a home.  Sosa took a shining to me, and by the time I left that day, he was following my every step.  I decided to take the little guy home to see if he would fit with our then family of two beagle mutts and a cat.  He did.

My mission then became to learn what I could about how he had spent the first year of his life.  Could the horse trader’s story about Puerto Rico be true?  If you know anything about horse traders, you know not to believe everything a horse trader tells you.  But, the little dog was wearing a collar with a Puerto Rican rabies tag hanging from it.  Hmmm. 

The horse trader gave me the name and phone number of the woman from whom he had gotten the little terrier. She confirmed that Sosa had indeed come from Puerto Rico, thanks to a rescue group there called Save A Sato, http://www.saveasato.org/.  This group of dedicated volunteers is committed to easing the suffering of Puerto Rico’s homeless and abused animals.  They took in my little Sato (slang for street dog), gave him medical care, food and shelter, and flew him via American Airlines to a rescue group in our area. 

Sosa attached himself to my side that day ten years ago, and he remains my constant companion.  Other people are ok, and he likes my husband well enough, but I alone, am his person.  Sosa has stolen my heart like no other pet that came before or after him.  As I look into his graying muzzle, I sometimes worry about the day that he will leave me.  But, I just remind myself to take a page from our canine friends - be in the moment and enjoy every moment I can spend with my Heart Dog.