It wasn't long before Wilson came along. He had huge shoes to fill and he did a beautiful job of easing the pain in my heart. As is often the case, individual dogs of the same breed are not necessarily the same in temperament and personality. This was so very true of Wilson. While a total sweet heart, he was not Dylan. He was very intelligent and biddable like Dylan, yet he was shy and very reserved. Dylan had been the life of the party! Thanks to my agility addiction, I felt the need to get a second dog, one who (hopefully) would be bold and enjoy all the hub-bub of a busy trial environment. So with the help of Jimmy's breeder to select the right puppy, I brought home Jimmy, a firecracker from day one! Amazingly Jimmy is probably more intelligent than either Dylan or Wilson, adores people, has endless energy and desire to play agility. But he still isn't Dylan. Despite endless socialization, he is unpredictable with which dogs he will get along with and which will provoke snarky behavior. I have to keep a close eye on him and micro-manage his interactions with other dogs. He was also the first of the three to have thunder storm fears.
We sort of have a running joke that it took getting two dogs to be able to equal the perfection that was Dylan. Which leads me to the point of this post, Yin-Yang, the Taoist concept of two halves that together complete wholeness, of duality forming a whole. Most of us are probably familiar with the taijitu, the symbol of Yin-Yang:
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| Taijitu |
Well yesterday, the boys presented themselves as the canine embodiment of this symbol. Little black Jimmy even placed himself on the correct side! I ran and grabbed my camera just as quick as I could!
So here they are, truly my yin-yang dogs, the two brought together to fill the hole left by Dylan. And have no fear, I love these boys dearly, quirks and all. I wouldn't trade them for the world!
