Earlier today I read the following post on a BPO forum, titled “Happy Kleenex Story.” It is an amazing story written by BPO member MagicM3, about her son and his special relationships with the family’s dogs. This powerful and truly moving story exemplifies how dogs magically connect with humans. With MagicM3’s permission, it is my pleasure to post it here for you all to read.
Happy Kleenex Story:
David and Falkor
This is a story about David and a new Collie in the house.David,my son,is 32 years old now,and is severely developmentally challenged.He has been all his life.
While he faces many challenges,opening his heart is on top of the list. He can communicate his needs,but holds his feeling in a very different place. Feelings he has a great deal of difficulty expressing.
He had dogs in his life from the beginning due to my love of them.His first real connection was a Great Pyrenees named Mandy they connected on a very spiritual level,and just knew each other in their bones.David was two years old when we brought Mandy home and his verbal language was very limited. That fact didn’t interfere with the two of them at all.
Mandy was with us for almost two years when she had to go to heaven due to a painful hip problem.We has a new puppy about four months old at the time.my first Collie,*Lucky*
David and Lucky
David was very ill the day Mandy left this world and he wasn’t aware she was gone until he got well about a week later,and once he searched for her and realized she was gone,Lucky became his inseparable companion,which unknown or unrealized to him had started when he was so sick,by his bedside.
As they both grew older I found David having conversations,actual verbal conversations,in full sentences,with Lucky,which opened the doors to other areas.
One day I heard David in the backyard talking very loudly,and I looked out the back window to see what was going on.He was on the back porch addressing the backyard (like it was full of people) announcing the eighth wonder of the worlds by the way he was talking,like a barker at a fair. And there was Lucky sitting on the side of the stairs until David called him up the steps,and had him do his tricks,one at a time,allowing for the crowds to cheer for each one,and going on and on about this *wonder dog*
It was truly amazing for a MOM to watch.
They were best friends,brothers,confidants.
When David was ten,we lost Lucky suddenly to an illness caused by a tick,it was a tragic and traumatic loss,especially for David.He stayed angry for three days,he wouldn’t cry,just very angry.Once I was able to get him to talk about what he was angry at,it was GOD,and he wanted Lucky back….as he talked about his anger I discovered that he thought Lucky was in a cage in Heaven…??(don’t know where that came from) but I assured him and explained to him that there were no cages in Heaven,that all dogs were free and happy and not sick,and could watch over all their people on earth,and wait for them until they came to Heaven. He cried and cried and cried.But it took many years to accept his loss.
We continued to get dogs in our lives and even a year after Lucky left got another Collie,but David never connected with any of them,even that Collie,Laddie. I did find another home for him because he was a really good dog and he deserved to be somewhere he could be adored as much as he adored his humans in this house.
The next dog that came into David’s life was a Rotti named Bear. David was about twelve years old. It didn’t happen while Bear was a puppy,and David kept his distance from any connection to Bear until he got bigger,and Bear did get bigger,he grew into 165 pounds of solid muscle.
Bear had his own way of dealing with David,he had a tremendous big heart,and seemed to understand that David couldn’t be crowded,but he was always there for him and in middle school,when he would come home from school,so angry and frustrated from the day,I would send David into the yard to burn off some energy. Bear was there for him.listening to all his problems,and sympathizing with him and always going along with whatever David needed at the time.
Bear was with us for eleven and a half years before cancer took him.We knew in advance and had a wonderful six months of meds that kept him comfortable and active. It gave David and the rest of us time to adjust to the idea of losing him.
It was very hard on everyone,and the resident dog we had was Tinkerbell,a Springer Spaniel that was Daddy’s dog. She never gave up trying to reach out to David,but David wasn’t ready or able to connect and put his heart on the line.It took about a year and a half…and lo and behold he gave into her persistent whining and wiggling to talk to her and pet her.Even though she remained Daddy’s dog,she never failed to greet David when he got up everyday and they exchanged greetings.
We got another Collie because I really wanted another Collie in our lives…for me if no one else.Simon only lived a short year and a half when Valley Fever took him.
I went through a number of dogs before getting Magic,a Bouvier,the two before him only lived a short time,only nine months before HD took them.I had no plans to get another puppy,I was convinced that I was the keeper of babies that were only going to be here for a short time,and was going to find a pound pup,a little older and looking for a good home. That’s when Magic came into my life,I mid-wived his litter of pups for a friend of mine.and was offered a pup.
That kind of gift from the Universe,you just don’t say no to,and accept it with gratitude.
Magic healed my soul,and as a therapy dog,visiting children and adults including staff at the hospital spreads his Magical ways to all he touches.
Tinkerbell at nine years,with all her health issues and her bone cancer which seemed to catch up with her all at once,and we knew that another winter would probably be her last…and then we got Emma,half Rotti and half Peke,which Tinkerbell took pride in training to care for Daddy.In the fall Tink left us.Within six months Emma not only had Daddy but David as well.She took up right where Tink had left off….and then some.
We were a two dog family and everyone seemed happy and adjusted.Three years later I still wanted a Collie in my life.I even joined several Collie groups online,and missed them even more. Looking into the links in the groups I found breeders and this time of year seemed to be puppy time. I wasn’t worried about that…I was just looking?? More for breeders than a puppy, we really didn’t need a puppy.
We had gotten bad news about Daddy’s brother and his health and I knew Daddy wanted to make the trip back to visit with him and I was thinking about that and how we would do that, and I came to Silverado Collies with new babies,four weeks old.As I looked at them I saw #7 and was doomed.
Silverado Collies was located between us and Daddy’s brother’s place in Illinios.He could be picked up on the way home.Everything just seemed to come together to happen as it should.
I told my friends that I needed another dog like I needed another hole in my head,I guess I did because he is here,and Falkor is our Luck Dragon.
I began talking to David about another Collie by taking him to see the pictures of the puppy on my computer,he was very non–committal about it. Usual??
Once Daddy had left to take his trip I talked to David about the puppy more and I told him how I had found him and that somehow he just jumped out of the computer and grabbed me.That I wasn’t planning on getting a puppy right now.But this one was different.
David and Falkor
The first thing he said to me about Falkor was,*It’s been a long time since we had a Collie.* I said yes it has,but I really want my next dog to be a Collie,and Magic is getting older and it will take time for a new pup to grow up and do his job. (Magic is a therapy dog)
Then he said something that took me by surprise,*Maybe LUCKY wants us to have this one.* We hadn’t talked about Lucky in a long long time and I asked him if he really thought so.Did he think that Lucky was still watching over us?And he emphatically said *OH YEAH!*
Well,I said,maybe your right,If Lucky has picked this one for us,he must be a good one…David’s response was a knowing smile.
Falkor looks nothing like Lucky, Lucky was a beautiful red sable with a big white collar and white factored.Falkor is a tricolor headed White Collie.
Well.Easter Day night,Falkor arrived home earlier than expected,but both Daddy and pup were in one piece.
As soon as the next day,I heard David in the family room,talking to Falkor,*No, no, no, don’t get into that,you’ll get hurt,* *NO, no, no,that cat will hurt you.* All in the voice and tone of someone talking to a young baby.
That may not sound very astounding to most,but with David,puppies for the most part are ignored,and at times growled at or yelled at,depending on what they are doing.
Tonight,I actually saw David not only playing with the pup,but jealous when Falkor got distracted by one of the other dogs.So I called Magic to me and David begins his journey with this new miracle called Falkor….A Collie.
