A special little story about Zeus

It’s been a little hard coming up with stories and photos this week. But since pets are parts of our lives and dogs are often parts of our landscapes, and because something very special happened between our dog Zeus and me last week, I thought I’d share it with you tonight. Here’s my story.

I offered to keep a sweet dog named Zeus for a friend of our daughter’s. It was only going to be for 3 weeks, but her life changed, and she wasn’t going to have enough space for him.

Zeus has “his room” in my workshop where I used to turn pens – out in our garage (climate-controlled, mind you!).

A week ago, before all this last cold blew into town, I put on my jacket and headed out to walk Zeus up the hill. It was dark and very chilly. Zeus loves to run, but he never goes out of range of my 1000-lumen flashlight.

But that night something was different. As we left the garage, I began to feel weak. I started to sweat. I walk with two canes because of something called migraine-associated vertigo (“MAV”). It hit very suddenly at 8:30 a.m., June 23, 2016.

Four times in my MAV life I’ve broken out in a cold sweat very suddenly. Once in my greenhouse. Once as I drove to church after doing my radio program. Once in the house. And once that evening a week or so ago. This one happened on a steep little part of our driveway.

I got partway up that little hill and paused. I knew that if I tried to turn around I would fall. I couldn’t go any farther up the hill. I took out my phone and called for help from my wife back in the house.

Before she could get there, I realized that Zeus had sensed his buddy was in trouble. He had stayed by my side only 4 feet away.

Once Lynn got up the hill to me Zeus knew his work was done and he took off on his run. But as I made my way back down toward the house, Zeus returned to the hill to watch me go in the front door. To be sure I was safely inside.

We have noticed that Zeus is always at the front door when I come inside. If I move around in the house, he goes to the closest door.

We spend a lot of time doing back scratches and ear rubs. When I sign books out in “his room,” Zeus carefully positions himself so his head is between my feet.

Lynn and I have had almost two dozen dogs during our marriage. Almost all have been from the SPCA of Texas. Zeus was himself adopted from a shelter in Austin. I was adopted from a shelter in San Antonio. I guess we strays just have a way of bonding with one another.