Napoleon and I

am the soundest sleeper ever, no really…I was married at one time and a tornado warning sounded. My husband attempted to wake me up to no avail, and carried me, asleep to the basement. When I woke up, I was sore and had quite a bruise on my right hip. He told me that he had dropped me getting me to the basement! No, I was not drunk.

Anyways, I do remember dreams sometimes; however, this particular dream is one of those that woke me up, sitting straight up in bed with my head in my hands and all I can see is this little Dog’s face. A distinct little black, tan, and white face. A Chihuahua. I hear this, “Please come to get me.”

I say, “No, I can’t. I had to adopt out my Daymon, I just had to leave Dory behind. Prior to that, it was Cawa. I can’t. I just cannot do it.” I did not go seeking this little Napoleon, he actually came to me every night in a dream waking me up as I would say, “NO, I do not want another Dog, I can barely take care of myself right now.”

Now, ya gotta understand I have done rescue work for many years. I have been through this many times; however, what made this, now so different.

Probably because I had just adopted my little Dog which traveled with me, Daymon, out to go to India to begin an Animal Child Sanctuary. I get there and am gifted another Dog, Dory, which upon leaving I had to adopt out. I truly believed I would be there for several years. It has only been months.

I have just returned, literally. I am on an Iron Pony, not sure where I am going, and my gear bag is still in India. It missed the plane. Besides, I have no gear for a Dog and my heart is broken on many levels. As I said I had not planned on leaving India for several years.

So, I am here, back in the United States. I miss my Daymon too, and thinking, “What did I give him up for?” and wondering, “What has Spirit got planned?” A couple of nights later, a little face wakes me up again…and again, I say “Please, God no. I cannot take another heartbreak.” See, the non-humans are like children for me.

Now, I can hear what some of ya’ll are saying, “Then why would you give up Daymon?” Well, that is for another story. Just know that there was good reason for both our sake.

Well, after my last ‘plea’ it stopped…only just for a week. That week I got a good orderly direction to head to Georgia from Kansas. With the gear I did have and all the money I had, so I began the backroads ride to Georgia.

It was on that ride that little face woke me up again., almost every night…this was also the first completely solo ride, meaning without any k-9 companion. When I arrived in Georgia, that face woke me up every night until I sat up saying, “Fine, if I am supposed to come to get you then tell me where you are, and let me get some sleep.” I did not hear a thing; however, I did get sleep.

The next morning as I am meditating I hear to go to the Animal Shelter. Well, I am on a large ranch in the southwest backcountry of Georgia. I have no idea if and where a shelter would be. So, I get out my Google Maps and do a search.

The search brings up a shelter in Tallahassee and they have their dogs listed with pictures on their website. I find myself scrolling down the pages. Pitbull after pitbull is listed and as I get to about the 4th or 5th page and ready to ‘give up’…I could not believe my eyes. There is that face! The face I had seen and was talking to me in my dreams waking me up. A black & white little chihuahua and could tell he was older.

I had to laugh at the name though, no doubt. Napoleon. Reading the description I thought to myself, I get it. He is going to be challenging for them to place and there is a reason he is summoning me.

I hear myself say, “Okay, I will call and see if he is even available still.” I call and the lady shares that he is still available. Please feel free to come and meet him. I did not even ask about the adoption fee. I knew I had to go and at least meet him. Besides, if I did not, I had a feeling he would continue to wake me up in my dream sleep.

I get a supportive ride from a dear soul sister all the way to Tallahassee. When we walk in and share that I am here to see Napoleon, it was like it was a surprise! So, I hear the fuss just before he is brought out. The leash is handed to me and I am asked if I feel I will be okay alone with him, and that if I am lucky he may come to me if we are alone. They even took us into the office area where there are no other animals.

So I sit on the ground of this shelter’s office with a little, older, black and white chihuahua holding his leash. I notice his skin condition. I ask him, ‘What have you summoned me for?” He walks over to me, gets on the lap of my folded legs, and I close my eyes as he raises his nose to sniff my face and gives me a little lick. I hear, “Get me out of here and help me.”

So, we walk to the front desk. I hear, “So how did it go?” I said, “He curled up on my lap and gave me a kiss. How much is his adoption fee?” Now, I have no idea how I am going to take care of this Napoleon, I have not even really figured out how I am going to take care of me. Then I hear, “If you are willing to take a chance on Napoleon, we are willing to take a chance on you. The warden comes over and says, “That’s right… His fee for you is $10 dollars. He is already neutered and current on all vaccines. We will give you his medications. He has had a flea and tick treatment. We believe his skin condition is flea allergy. Shall we get his stuff for you?”

I am standing there in awe as I am handed his dog bed, food, medicines, and more while signing adoption papers. I am given everything this little Napoleon needs to be taken care of. As we reach the car to get in, Napoleon comes out of him as he growls and snaps. He is lifted by the leash into the car, onto the floorboard. My compassion comes out as to what all Napoleon may have encountered and yet I am contemplating, “What have I done?”

We reach the cottage I have been blessed to stay in while housesitting. Napoleon trots right in, gets on the bed, and falls asleep. He sleeps for hours. When I would move, he would growl and begin to snap, realize what he is doing and where he is at, and fall back to sleep.

The journey then began with ‘taming or transforming’ this Napoleon. And that is where the “What Napoleon Taught Me” began. What became self-evident is I was working with the Napoleon within ‘us.’ It cannot be done with discipline, medication, and definitely not with any fear. It was definitely done with love, compassion, and patience.

Napoleon did not have flea allergies. He had food allergies. A change in food, off the steroids, a bit of CBD, positive reinforcement, and daily 2-4 miles walks. Within a few months Napoleon’s skin cleared up, the growling and snapping stopped, he became snuggly and instead of calling him Napoleon, it became ‘SweetPea’ as a nickname. He was ready to go to a new home. I was transformed myself and ready to begin a new Peregrination across the country. Napoleon’s new home came as quickly as his adoption.