Sancho – The Fluffy Teddy Bear

I thought a while about Sancho’s heart note. When did I start to love him? It clearly wasn’t love at first sight. I was against the idea of adding a streetdog to Luigi and Amy. I was like ‘Whatever. He can stay but I won’t love him.’

Amy totally took my side. She either growled at him or she completely ignored ‘that streetdog’. And then she got sick and I needed to take her to the vet – for a blood test. When we came home she lied on the couch and she started licking both her hurt front paws. Sancho noticed and lied next to her. I watched them and held my breath, because I was sure she would growl at him. She felt weak and she hadn’t accepted him as a family member yet. And then Sancho started licking one of Amy’s front paws. Just like that. Like… ‘This is what you do when a family member is hurt and I don’t care that you don’t like me. This is what you do. You heal what’s broken.’ She looked at him. With her beautiful eyes. My alpha girl. She kinda gave him her blessing. And then she continued licking her other front paw. I watched those two together and my heart skipped a beat. I started loving Sancho. Heart note.

It’s who he is. Sancho is way more than the poor streetdog, the fluffy teddy bear, the cool pomapooshi, the gentle dog you can cuddle all day with eyes so pure and ancient, the best bro for Luigi. Sancho is a healer. He who is a broken soul himself.

Whenever Luigi plays with a toy and is finished with it, Sancho grabs it and licks it forever. To heal it. The first thing Sancho does every morning… he checks on his brother, sniffs him, licks him. And it goes beyond that. Sancho was and is healing our pain over losing Amy. He’s pure love. He took all that pain… his and ours… and he turned it into gold.

It’s what rescue dogs do. They save you just as much as you save them.