Two Fer Roo

I wanted to tell you about how Shela and I got a double jolt of solstice energy the other day. I already told about G & I going up to the Solstice Spot for sunrise. What I didn’t actually put down in words but what is a given to anyone who knows me or has a certain kind of dog is that Shela Roo went with us too. Of course she also went to the Rock Home and any other place G or I ever told a story about Shela was automatically there too. She is that certain kind of dog. Shela (or Roo or Rooey or Little Roo or Shelaseraptor) is just turned eight. She has lived with us since she and my son Neil met each others gaze across a crawling mob of sibling puppies all begging for the swell eleven year old boy to please pick me. Shela was the tiniest round Being sitting still alert and quiet in peaceful contemplation of the boy she knew already belonged to her soul. Her all-knowing ebony eyes shot their arrows into Neil’s open heart and living history was witnessed.

Shela is a blue heeler, also known as an Australian Cattle dog. Neil was a Crocodile Dundee fan at the time. That’s how her name—Shela Roo—came to be—a shela is a girl or a girl kangaroo in Australian. Our Shela is a Shela Roo instead of a kangaroo. It has been a great name for a great dog. Roo is a smallish heeler with dainty hair and features compared to many of the breed who are larger and shaggier. Roo has a magical silky soft forehead with a white crystal star on her 3rd eye. She is the typical colors of a blue heeler—greyish brown spots blended into black background with red liver spotted legs and sticky-up ears like G likes. Shela also has a totally black saddle spot on her flank. Some heelers get their tails docked. A few strains of the breed are apparently attempting to evolve the tail to the impossibly cute zone. This is the case with Shela Roo who has a naturally occurring tail consisting of one vertebrae nubbin—like the end joint of your pinkie. The guy who had the puppies showed us Mama and Papa Heeler whose tails are also one-notchers. Doc said no one could dock a tail that short. So there it is—Rooey is a natural stumpie! It is a delight to see it chattering happily away at the end of herself when she greets a friend—of which she has never met anyone who is not.

Heelers are shaped like a brick with four dowel rods poking straight down. Like a clay dog made by a 2nd grader. Can’t think why I’d want any other dog. Shela is a post-it note from God. I look up and there she is gazing at me with unconditional love and presence. She attempts to be wherever I am at all times. This is since her boy moved out two years ago and couldn’t take her with him even though he tried. He has not been able to sleep well without Shela and The Pearl of Great Price sleeping on top of him. He was soul-yanked away from his sleep-support system and has had to adapt. Before that Shela was pretty much wallpapered unto Neil like an extra skin. (Except when he was making loud banging noises which she did not like).

Anyway she is me now and I am her. She is perpetually in contact with my soul and will meditate with me anytimeanyplace. Shela is always in contact with my feelings—if I experience a deep sad or a flash of rage or a burst of joy—there is Shela with her silky head gently present at my face. One of everyone’s favorite things about her is that she is a howler. Someone starts to howl and it gets Shela barking which soon becomes a head tipped back coyote soul opening chanting howl. Makes you go to some otherwhere and when with her and the ancient ancestors of Australians communication with the heavens. Gives you soul vibrating waves of harmony, peace and rapture to howl with the Roo. Everyone who knows her does it. Presses your re-start button.

Shela is also a talker. When a friend comes along she quivers all over and circles her sausage body (maggot is what G calls it), rolls her tongue around in her mouth, saying LLLLRrrrRowRowRowwwwwowwowow. Definitely words—“I am glad to see you my friend let’s play!”

So Shela’s a great dog and she goes everywhere I go and she was there at the Solstice Spot the other morning. Then that evening my neighbor Katia called to say let’s go up to the Solstice Spot for sunset even though it was past sunset there was light in the sky. So we went and watched the colors fade and the stars come forth and we shared spiritual pointings that we liked and hugged and laughed each other into winter and happy new year and Shela Roo was there watching and loving us all. A two fer Roo.

Words and photo by Laura Solberg.