The magical story of how Pia and I found each other

I have always had an amazing connection with dogs and I had a few of them present (in different ways) in my life. The first one was Žućko, who lived in the village in Zagorje (where my mom is from). We loved each other to bits, but I could not have taken him as I had been living with my parents at the time. Another one was my beloved Rex, who also lived in the same village, and whom I only took in a few months before he died. And there was my main teacher Ziza, a dog whom I adopted when the owner who abused her had died.

When Zizi died a few days before my last birthday in November, I knew I want to live with a dog again. And I knew that this time I did not want suffering to be a part of the journey – I wanted a (baby) dog with who I could make our own reality, without too many obstacles in our way.

I first tried with one shelter, but it did not work (I wrote about this already). It was not the way for my dog to come, and with a hindsight – it was not the time. After I came back from Mexico, I felt I was ready. I had an intention that my dog would come ‘old school’ way, free from any discourses of saving or selling animals. I had imagined it to be born in the village, surrounded by well-intended humans and other animals.

This weekend my amazing niece Ana and I decided to go and find her/him. Ana had a dream of a new incarnation of Ziza, which was very clear.

On Saturday, which was actually one of the worst days in my life, I gathered my strength and drove us to our village in Zagorje. On Sunday morning we did a ceremony with shamanic drums, where we invited power animals to come help us and we did some card readings. I connected with a deer, who reminded me of the gift of antlers and called me to listen to my institution, and Ana connected with a giraffe who told her to take another perspective. The card called us to let go of any ideas of how this dog would look like and how it would come to us.

We embarked on the journey to the nearby village which we visited before my trip to Mexico, where there were many dogs at the time. This time we did not meet any of them, and just when we were at the end of the village, this beautiful girl with a magical presence came to the fence and started looking at as, so I asked if she knew if there had been any baby dogs in the village. She told us she had one. And she showed me Pia, who weighted 1,4 kg. This was certainly not the dog that Ana has dreamt of, and certainly not the dog I would rationally choose, as I have never imagined that my dog would be a small breed!

Still, I put her on me, and Ana whispers to me that I should look at her eyes. At that movement Pia moves her head from my chest and looks at my eyes! As I want to put her on the ground, she resists, does not want to let go of me. Before I let her go, one of her four grown up dogs of her family comes and licks me, as if he was blessing our (re)union. At that moment I also notice a car plate in the yard: 7777.

We leave, as I want to give myself a bit of a time. We again do the shamanic journey, and I connect to the deer again who reminds me of my dream. A few days before I dreamt that Filip and I had a sheep (this was our cat Nanda) and that suddenly one fluffy calf toy became alive and started to play with the sheep. I realised the calf was this dog, who I get the message is called Pia, the name that has been coming to me for a while now. (Yesterday as the two of them – Nanda and Pia – played, I witnessed the scene from my dream).

So we went back to get Pia, letting the beautiful girl know we will now all be able to roam the hills of my beloved Zagorje. We are a community!

Indeed, we are all related, inter-connected. And we are a powerful manifestors of our reality. So let’s not forget it and give our powers to the institutions. And let’s use it to the benefit of all living beings.