Chasing Enchantment

These double merles have such a sweet, enchanting energy about them.  I was thinking this as I drove with Lottie Moon and Keebler in the back seat of my car yesterday.  They were playing together, sharing a toy.                                         
These dogs have a different energy, in some almost indescribable way, than my other dogs.  There is a gentleness to them, but not a calmness; a wisdom to them, yet not an intellect.  This is not to say they are not ever calm, or that they are not intelligent, because absolutely they can be both.  It is more about the descriptors “gentle” and “wise” as descriptors of their energy, their auras, if you will, and not their personalities, and the sense that these words provoke in the soul, and not the mind. When I say that they are gentle, the mind brings forth images of calm, slow, quiet.  Lottie and Keebler spend massive amounts of their time running and wrestling and screaming in play together. 

Lottie has her OCD moments several times/week where she pants and barks and runs through repetitive behaviors and stresses out everyone around her. 

Keebler is a Chihuahua, and just like most Chihuahuas, he feels the need to shriek and rush forward in attack mode to big dogs who venture near him when he has a bone, or when he’s on my lap. 
Yet I still use the word “gentle” to describe both of these dogs.  It goes beyond actions; it goes deeper to their hearts.  Likewise, I have border collies and an Australian Cattle Dog, so I live with dogs that possess crazy intelligence.  Sometimes I swear they are smarter than me.  Lottie and Keebler are not more intelligent than the border collies, not at all.  But they feel wise.  Like learning from them will heal my soul. 
  
There is just something about these dogs, these double merles, that has an impact on people.  It happened to me when I met Dahlia, the deaf and blind Aussie who made me decide I needed one of these dogs, started me on my path to find Lottie, and really changed my life. 


Keebler and Dahlia



Lottie, Keebler, and Dahlia

 
Since last year when I adopted Lottie, I’ve become involved in helping other double merles find homes, and I’ve become a part of the community of owners of double merles.  I’ve watched people become just as entranced with these dogs as I was.  When you meet them, you just know you’ve met something your soul hungers for.  And once you feel this sweet enchantment, you cannot forget it, ever.