Cheyenne The Spirit That Changed Me!
I'd like to tell you how I got involved in rescuing Dogs and Wolves.
I started to rescue animals as a way to do something non selfish in a business that is all about me. Mohawk was my first he was a young run away and the first few months were very hard on me as my entire daily routine had to change to accommodate his needs.
After the first year I realized Mohawk needed a friend and even though my schedule was already crazy I knew when I left him alone at home he was not very happy. I did volunteering work for the Samoyed rescue of Southern California and I used to go to all the shelters looking for dogs that were on death row and try to see if I could bring them to good enough condition to find a home for them.
On one such visit I saw a cage that had four Pitbulls and in the back a filthy white thing was lying on the ground. I was drawn to the cage and on closer look I saw Cheyenne lying on her side, bleeding from the bite marks that the pitbulls had inflicted. I was outraged and asked why that dog was among the Pitbulls and I was told all the dogs in that cage were to be killed that day. So it did not matter if the old white dog that nobody wanted was among them. She had been in the shelter for two long weeks and because of her poor health and her old age (10 to 11 years old) it was no point to rescue her as she was on her last leg.
I tried to talk to Cheyenne but she would not even raise her head off the cold floor. Something in me knew that I had to take her out of here. I had to almost fight the shelter people to let me take her as they were sure she would not live long and that my efforts were in vain. Nevertheless I followed the voice within.
Over the next few months I was truly tested as she had problems walking due to several abnormal growths on her hips and her back. So it began the long road of Surgeries. She survived four operations and to the surprise of my vet who also gave me a slim chance, she managed to pull through.
I cannot list the number of things that was wrong with her but believe me someday's I questioned my own action of trying to help her.
It was very hard on me for at least two years. Daily massages, special dietary needs, hourly nursing as she used to wet herself due to past trauma had me at a breaking point but I hung in there. I also had to learn how to wash and groom both of them. They had become so close to me that I would even take them to my auditions and they waited in the car for me.
In the tradition of American Indians every animal spirit teaches us something new. From the Wolf Spirit we learn true Grit. Time past and after two and half years Cheyenne started to slowly come out of her shell. She raised her head high and walked proud, that was when I realized this dog was no dog and the Wolf within started to gaze at me with those knowing eyes.
I did not have a family life when I was growing up and everyone was telling me it is good Karma what I was doing and that it would come back to me but the truth was as I healed Cheyenne I was healing myself and years of emotional blockage washed away from me as she blossomed to a magnificent creature that turned heads no matter where we went.
I now know she was put in my path for a reason and what I learned from her was far more important than the good life I gave her for her final 4-5 years. They traveled to many locations where I was shooting, including Santa Fe last year where they got the chance to play in the snow maybe for the first time.
Although she has left me physically she has left her paw print on my soul and I was there when she took her last breath and felt her become part of me.
Cheyenne taught me many things and when I used to look into
those clear eyes I saw the soul of a being much more able than ourselves to accept the totality of life, the hard but necessary cycles of birth and death, feast and famine, gain and loss of which all life is made of.
In a dream she told me she had tough me all that I needed to know and now it was time to go. My film carrier took off in the years that I had her and I know she was my luck Dragon.
I am blessed to be where I am today and to have friends and Fans like the sweet hearts on this forum and I just wanted you to all know I love you all and pray for your happiness in your daily life.
The Past is History... The Future is Mystery...
This Moment now is a Gift...
That is why it is called the Present... Jay
