May 4, 2019

White Dog watched as Bella squeezed past her sleeping brother. A few minutes later, Opal stepped across Roman's legs and came to sit with me in the office. He shifted to turn his head away from Tizenegy's bossy bark but did not even full awaken.

During all of the interactions neither the WDA nor Roman recognized the monumental achievement being played out...they didn't see because these actions have become an everyday occurrence.

There was a time, not so long ago, when Roman being approached while sleeping would have snapped him to full alert attack mode the moment he sensed anyone near. And the others would never have dared to get so close at all. And awake, he was given wide berth.

There were unspoken rules and boundaries and sadly, it left Roman mostly on the edge of the pack...a place he seemed to prefer. Time and the sharing of our mutual journey has softened those edges and I see some rudimentary trust...on both sides...starting to happen.

It is not throw down all of the safeguards and call it cured time yet, but it is a small quiet step noticed in passing that momentarily jolts the small grey wren of hope into a brief song. Or as White Dog put it, "One for the Who-Would-Have-Imagined category."