Fate

After I lost my beautiful boy Floppy, in June, I was absolutely devastated. I cried and cried and just when I was sure my tear ducts were all dried up and couldn't possibly produce any additional water, I cried some more. I felt like I lost a sibling or other close family member. I still feel the pain, I still miss him every single day, and I feel I may never love another dog like I loved him.

Poor Nikki was so sad. She sulked. She laid around the house, hid behind the couch or under my bed all day, and wouldn't even eat her favorite treats. She knew he was gone, and she didn't like it. She missed her buddy, her playmate.

We weren't planning on getting another dog any time soon. None of us were ready. We missed Floppy, and it was too much to handle. But, poor Nikki. We felt so badly for her, so we browsed around pet sites, not particularly expecting to find any dog we liked enough to take home. We felt we would be replacing Floppy, and no one could do that.

But, then...

Then, we saw this guy.

And oh, my goodness... how could we resist?

If you remember the other pictures (click on the link above at the beginning of the post), he looks like a mix of all three of our previous dogs in so many ways. His face, his fur type, his coloring (except the speckled feet). Even when we brought him home, he displayed very similar characteristics and personality traits of the other three as well.

When trying to think of a name, we wanted something fitting for him. We thought of and ruled out traditional names like Max and Jack. We liked the name Midas, but he's too sweet and gentle for that name. We looked through pet name books and online, but we couldn't agree. When one of us would like something, the others would hate it, or vice versa.

If you look at his picture, you'll see it. We noticed that he sort of looks like he's wearing black eyeliner, and that it extends out to the side of his head and looks Egyptian. So we got the idea to look up Egyptian names. Traditional names didn't work, so I searched for Egyptian gods instead. Finally... I found it.

There was one named Shai. He was the Egyptian god and concept of fate. Fate?! Was it not fate that we found him after we lost Floppy? Was it not fate that he had the looks and the personality mix of our other three dogs before him combined? Unbelievable. It was perfect. And so, there it was, clear as day. Shai.

Now, I'm not sure I even believe in the actual concept of fate. You know, life occurrences are meant to happen, everything happens for a reason, there's a greater power controlling how the world turns... I always thought of it as a cop-out for some people not to take responsibility for their own actions. Do certain decisions lead to certain situations occurring? Absolutely. But the belief that everything is pre-planned out, and our path is already laid out for us and we don't get to decide? Not a fan.

But, this... I don't know. The stars aligned for this one.

We loved Shai immediately. He is so cute, and so gentle and loving. He wants nothing more than to please us and be loved. He hates being yelled at, so he usually learns quickly -- unless he sees a bunny in the yard, then forget it, his chasing instincts take over.

He cannot replace Floppy. And he's not the same dog, we know. However... he can be part of a new family. And we will love him unconditionally just the same.

Oh, and Nikki? She's doing much better. She is much happier, and really back to her old, weird self.

Here is a quick video of Nikki and Shai playing when they first met: