Angel on Earth

 

Whether you believe in a higher power or not, when you are in the bubble of a pure soul you can be over come with emotion. Caera is literally an Angel on Earth..

When we got Caera I didn't even want her. I was done having dogs. I have been without my boxer Brandy that I had for 10 years and then I had to give my little Jack Russell mix to my mom so he wouldn't be euthanized. I was so busy at that point in our lives that I didn't feel I had the time or energy to train a puppy.

My daughter just graduated the 8th grade. She really wanted a dog. Her best friend's family golden retrieverjust had a litter of 10 puppies. I was completely against it and we couldn't afford them anyway. But my daughter was bound and determined to have a puppy. I told her that if she saved all of her summer job money then I would try to get the other part of it for her.

So my daughter worked her butt off and by the end of the summer she had half of what we needed. It didn't look like we were going to be able to get her, but the breeder was so impressed with my daughter's dedication to wanting a puppy that she came up with a way for us to get the other half. The breeders step father just past and they were going to give him a huge Harley Davidson send off. She asked me to take photos and create a video of the precession and she would call it even and my daughter would get her puppy.

Caera at 4 weeks old

We brought her home in August of that summer. We were housesitting at a friends house and I got some great shots of her. I knew then that she was going to be special, but that didn't stop me from trying to resist her. My daughter took very good care of her. But she started high school and was busy all day and so Mom had to take care of the puppy. 

Caera has been my ride or die buddy since the first day she came home. I tried like crazy to keep our relationship as trainer/ client, but that didn't work. In the end Caera ended up picking me. She loves my daughter and goes nuts when she sees her. But she listens to me everytime. 

I work with Caera every single day. Even almost eight years later and I'm still working with her several times a day. And its not intense training. It's just basic skills and commands. I also teach her tricks and other lessons like leading a horse with a lead line. Pulling me along the ground with a rope, teaching her different tools that I couldn't reach and some sign language. When I was married my step sons were into war games. I would tell them to go outdoors, but with so many poisonous snakes and bad people around I had to get creative with Caera so the boys would play outside with her. I taught her some of the game hand gestures. She got pretty good and loved playing with the boys.

Caera swimming in Job Pond, Newark, Vermont

When I work with animals Caera is my right hand dog! She helps me communicate what I'm asking for if one of my animal students doesn't quite understand what I'm asking. She has been so brave working with cows, donkey's and horses. She has helped me work with goats, geese, opossum's, cats, chickens and a whole bunch more animals. Caera has protected me from bears when I was riding on the Old Silo Road in Barnet, Vermont. She has saved me from mean people and from being hit by cars. But the place where Caera really shines and has helped me grow more as a person is when she meets strangers for the first time.

When we moved back to Vermont in 2018 it was not the warmest of welcomes when I moved into St. Johnsbury. I was living on Main Street and so many people would give me the most dirty looks and would go so far away from us. Caera loves people. Dogs on the other hand she will give them a chance. But if the other dog is disrespectful she will put them in their place. So we learned real fast which dog and owners we could talk to.

Caera soaking in the sun at Dog Mountain in St. Johnsbury, Vermont

Once everyone calmed down and realized that no matter how much bullying certain dog people would do to me Caera and I weren't going anywhere. Once people started talking to me and realized that I was a trainer and a really nice person they just kept talking and talking and talking. 

I'm an introvert. I'm very happy not dealing with people because I'm also extremely empathic. I know, I know. You're thinking, "Well if you don't like working with humans then why do you want to create your tiny mobile photography studio?'  Good question. It's not that I don't like people. I'm just highly sensitive. I can read a bad mood from around the corner. I can feel when someone is in pain or happy, sad or mad, but I feel it ten fold. I'm a walking raw nerve that picks up everything. I'm the human version of a bat. The find insects with radar and that is pretty much how my empathy works. 

Having a tiny mobile photography studio gives me the freedom to work as many or as little hours as I can. This also works with my medical issues as well.

Once we were reestablished at home again I started noticing that Caera would lead me over to people. It was clear that these people were either very sick or very depressed. She forced me to come out of my shell. It was really very hard. I have always had a hard time talking with people. I never say the right things or a laugh at something that I wasn't suppose to. I've always had trouble with verbal cues and hints. But that is for another time.

Caera looking over her swimming spot at Comerford Dam, Lower Waterford, Vermont.

I began working with VocRehab and got a job as a Volunteer Photographer for the Counsel on Aging. I also started working with homeless people at the Warming Shelter. Caera and I went every single day to have breakfast or lunch with the folks at the Warming Shelter. Caera was prized there. So many of the folks there had to give up their animals. Several of them would start crying when they saw Caera. Caera being the Golden Goddess that she is would let them hug on her and cry into her fur. The homeless folks that were deemed violent became pussycats and would play and play with Caera. While she was doing her activities I would be helping those folks fill out paperwork and job applications or teach them to read or write. Sometimes Caera and I would go down there and all I would do is sit in a chair and listen to stories while they pet Caera. I have been homeless on several occasions so I understand the plight. Caera though just didn't do therapy at the homeless shelters. We would walk up and down Main Street at least 6x's a day. Every single time we had to stop so she could get loved on. Most times I would be just sitting there while my dog got loved on. I would get a Thank you and people would leave us with a smile on their faces. We've had many dorm students from St. Johnsbury Academy stop me and asked to pet her and then it ended up with them just crying like crazy because they missed their dogs or they were getting bullied or just having a bad day.

Watching Caera just open herself up to people made me a little jealous. So I decided to try harder to become more personable. Having Caera with me has taught me so much. Patience, having and open mind and heart. She just oozes love. People want to be in her bubble. She is just a big wiggle worm of love and joy. 

The way she interacts with elderly folks is so fun. She has her favorites, but she gives everyone her undivided attention. The light that beams off of the elderly folks she visits with is breathtaking. People do have a certain light about them when they are happy. Its like a light switch when Caera is near people. I love to watch the darkness turn to light when we go visit people. 

She is also my back up for when I take my elderly friends out for a picnic or fishing. She watches over everyone in my circle. I just can't say enough wonderful things about Caera.

It was Caera that helped me solidify my plans to help the elderly. I hadn't realized how many elderly people were all alone until I had an assignment with Meals on Wheels for photos in a article that Counsel on Aging was doing. It broke my heart to see all of those elderly people living sometimes very far from town all by themselves. After that assignment I was able to purchase a used car. It only lasted me the summer and part of the fall, but once I got my car elderly people just started showing up in my life. 

Caera having a gathering with 2 of our elderly friends and my friend Bill.

During the Covid pandemic I was working with 5 elderly folks that had nothing to do with Counsel on Aging. I met 3 of them through my friend Bill, (in the photo above). Four out of the five had NO relatives checking in on them. No way to get to the store or doctors office. I took several of them fishing and out for picnics or they took a ride with me while I was doing road photography. The woman in the photo above, her name was Carrie. She passed away last fall of a rare lung disease and pneumonia. She was my very first commissioned sale. This is her photo below.

Taken on top of Kirby Mountain, Vermont

Carrie would light up no matter how sick she was when she saw Caera come through the door. Caera would be such a little lady and be so gentle and always be where Carrie could pat her. Carrie even when she was dying kept asking about Caera and I and Little Bean. I never realized how much of an impact I had on those I was doing things for until Carrie. To me what I do is something that should be done anyway. We should be taking better care of our elderly. To spend even an hour a day with someone can make the biggest difference. That is another lesson that Caera has taught me. I also learned from her that you should treat everyone equally. No one person is better than the other and that we all deserve love and attention.

Before Carrie died we had one last talk. She told me to not stop what I was doing. She loved my idea of the mobile photography studio and was looking forward to going camping with me, but that of course didn't happen. She loved my ideas and loved that I was going to be integrating elderly folks into my plan.

I know that I would have never chosen this route for myself if it wasn't for Caera's guidance. Both she and I feel fulfilled, accomplished, gratified and loved after we interact with an elderly person. I want to be able to give that to Caera and the elderly folks wherever I go. 

Caera and I can't do that without help. I have been working hard to get to my goal, but still need help getting the finances I need to get a SUV or truck and a trailer.

Since Covid Caera and I have been stuck in a rut. Two of my elderly folks I was working with last year have moved away, One died and one is in hospice. I'm currently working with only one of the original 5. Luckily I live in the same building. I love seeing the look on Caera's face when she gets ready to go to work. Then to show off for Memere Jenks every morning just feels my heart. And to see Memere's face light up when she sees Caera makes me warm and happy. 

Caera in a pond at Dog Mountain

Being able to be an elderly persons sidekick has been one of the most fulfilling jobs I have ever had. I don't even consider it a job and its not a job because I don't get paid to do this work. I just do it. People need help and I can help. 

Doing this kind of work is what Caera lives for too. Caera is going to be eight years old and I'm 50 with many illnesses. I want to be able to give Caera and I the best possible life she has left. She lives to make people happy and in turn her happiness makes me happy. If Caera and I can help even one person out then that is a start. That is one less unhappy person in the world.

All I want to do is be a good human being. To show people that its ok to volunteer and help folks you don't know. I have been learning so much from my elderly folks. We need to treasure our elderly a great deal more than we do. I'm will to put myself out there and help complete strangers, but Caera and I can't do it alone.

Thank you for taking the time out to read my blog.

Sierra And Caera

Caera always has a smile waiting for you!

Merritt. Caera's fishing buddy.