On the Trail of Dogs

I thought in walking the Camino that I would see farm animals. Cows, chickens, sheep, pigs and if I was lucky, a few horses. We were going to be walking through farmlands for a large part of the way, after all, and that is what one is bound to see when viewing farms. What I did not expect to see was all the dogs. Big ones, small ones, short-haired, long-haired, farm dog, guard dog, somebody’s soft pet, you name it and it was somewhere along the Camino. And just like the people I met they were all different; joining and departing from my pilgrimage walk after brightening my life with the light they reflected.

Outside of Sarria, the place of my very first steps along the Camino itself, there was a silvery black shepherd dog that halted me and my roommate Maggie. Not with loud barking or blocking our path, but this folded back ears and a gently wagging tail. He had kind brown eyes that lit up when they connected with mine and he came bounding up to the makeshift fence between us. His fur was rugged soft and thick to the touch, like all working dogs of that kind has. It was hard to leave him, but he was not mine to take with me on the journey and so I left him with a sad smile.

    Now puppies have a way of being able to steal anyone’s heart away, so it is not surprising that when Professor Gayk and I bumped into an adorable shepherd puppy we got a bit sidetracked. This sweetheart was probably about six months old and super friendly. With a classic black and gold coat pattern, she came tripping out of her owners yard and walked right up to us happy as you please to see some people. She came over to me and her buddy, another shepherd who was chained up in the yard, got some loving pats from Professor Gayk. this puppy sat on my left foot and practically laid against my legs as I pet her. She was even softer than the dog in Sarria and was so friendly that I could hardly believe that her owners would want her as an outdoor dog! Alas, all good things must come to an end and I had to say goodbye to her as well, although I would have happily left everything in Spain if I thought that they would have let me take her back to the States in my backpack.

Not all the dogs I met were in this mindset of playing with the pilgrims along the Camino. Some were kind of mean, some barked a lot so I didn’t go too close to them, but then there was this one that I met outside a roadside café. He was a huge fluffy white dog with wise black eyes who stood just outside the front door gazing back in the direction I had just come from. There was no one walking behind me and no one standing by the dog who looked like his owner, so I walked up to him. I introduced myself and he looked at me briefly, in simultaneous acknowledgement and apology, before turning his head to continue watching down the road. I asked what he was doing and he replied with a gentle sigh that said almost as well as words could, “I’m waiting for someone.” I rubbed his back and told him that I hoped the person he was waiting for would not be much longer and that it had been lovely to meet him. He turned his head to me with a slight wag of his tail which I took to mean, “you as well.” I left him here outside the café waiting on whoever and even though I kept my eyes peeled I never saw him or his person on the trail to Santiago.