A powerful lesson in patience and trust.

The brown dog with her head nestled against my chest is Loopy.  Like Phoebe, the black dog looking at the camera, they are dogs that Jean originally had rescued in Mexico.

Here’s Loopy’s story.

When I first met Jean in December 2007 in San Carlos, Mexico, it was immediately clear that she was an animal lover extraordinaire! There were 13 dogs and 6 cats in her home and many other dogs in a fenced off compound not so far away from the house.

Abandoned and stray dogs in that part of Mexico were numerous, there was no humane society and no real care or interest from the Mexicans for these dogs.  So many years ago, Jean decided to run her own unofficial dog rescue society, supported by more than a few Americans who had winter homes in San Carlos.  Over the years, Jeannie and her team must have rescued and found homes for well over 50 dogs.

In my introduction to the post last Tuesday, Please Help a George, I wrote about how long it had taken for Loopy to bond with me, but Jean’s experience of Loopy goes way back before I entered their lives.

I mentioned above that Jean had a piece of land in San Carlos that she used as a rescue compound for her dogs.  One morning, back in 2003, as usual she had gone to the compound to attend to her dogs.  Jeannie noticed immediately, cowering in one corner, this young female, brown-haired dog, the dog had been tossed over the fence of the compound.  Jean estimated that she was about a year old, hadn’t yet had any pups.  The dog had very cold eyes, growled aggressively as soon as Jean approached her; clearly deeply traumatised.

Jean set out food and water before the dog, hoping that whatever had traumatised the dog would soon abate.  The dog was named: Loopy!

Despite the fact that Loopy wouldn’t mix with the other dogs in the compound, she was not mean.  But the days turned into weeks, the weeks into months, and still Loopy would not allow Jean to get close to her.  One could only imagine the degree of cruelty that must have been metered out to Loopy – or, rather, one couldn’t imagine it!

Then, one day, when Jean went to the compound, Loopy was amongst the other dogs.  Loopy cautiously came up to Jean, sniffed her feet and legs and then, miraculously, allowed Jean to gently stroke her head and back.  Loopy’s cold, angry eyes were now soft and brown; Loopy had melted.  For obvious reasons, Loopy would never be available for adoption and soon moved into the main house.

When I became a permanent part of the Mexican household in 2008, Loopy was deeply suspicious of me.  I was given the cold, hard-eyed stare from Loopy and any attempt by me to touch her was returned with growling, fanged teeth.  There were a number of instances where I collected teeth rips across my hands from Loopy.

The aggression towards me lasted a long time, about a year.  But then one day, quite unexpectedly, Loopy decided that I was friend, not some reminder of a demon foe from her past.  She trusted me, first with strokes and cuddles and then with the most passionate and trusting embraces.  I love her so much.

One could wax lyrical about love, patience and trust, but I won’t.  The photograph below says it all.  We really do have so much to learn from dogs!