Meninâo is one of the largest dogs we have in the yard. We found him on a hill near town, at a lookout point. He wandered around there, left alone by his elderly owner, who had moved to another city and did not want to take Meninâo with him. Meninâo is a fine dog, big, strong, and at first everyone wanted to adopt him, but he was only sent door to door. He could not go into dog houses because of fear, possibly because he was locked in his previous life. If someone came up to him with a hat or held something in his hand and came up to him, Meninâo would be defensive, probably because he was being mistreated ... Nobody had the patience to take care of him and overcome his trauma. His trust in people was shattered.
When he came to our farm after several failed adoptions, we built a bamboo house for him, a little secluded from the rest of the dogs, but he never went inside and spent a lot of time in the pouring rain. That is why his first name was "weather dog". After a while he slowly found trust again, and a woman who was living on the farm on a voluntary basis took him to her home, but even that didn't make him go into a house. After a while the woman lost her patience and left our court, leaving Meninâo behind. He watched her with sad eyes as she left the courtyard without him. She never came back ... Another young woman who volunteered and helped on the dog farm also lost patience with Meninâo's neediness. She, too, left him in the lurch, also because of his size. Ultimately, these situations - in which we had to watch Meninâo as he broke internally from these rejections - were a reason for the decision not to place a dog from the farm anymore.
(Meninâo and Mayo)
Meninâo somehow seemed to understand this decision, it began to change and became more open. As if he felt that he was safe with us and that he would have his place there. When I personally landed at the dog farm in Brazil for the first time, I immediately saw that Meninâo is a special dog with needs. He was as huge as he was loving. He jumped up on me like a playful puppy. I saw that he had to or wanted to live quite "alone". Jade and Dita (the two people on site in the courtyard) could only build him a shed out of wood and plastic tarpaulin due to a lack of funds. During the time I was there, we had to look for the individual parts of the shed on the neighboring property 3 or 4 times after storms and rebuild them. So I decided to build the first solid house for Meninâo and his companion Nega.
(Nega, Meninâo´s fellow)
Meninâo and the other dogs are very playful, you can hardly work when they jump around you. But when I started to lay the first foundation stones for Meninâo's house, the dogs lay down a few meters away from me and watched intently what I was doing there. Meninâo watched me pull the walls of his new house higher and higher. He was clearly interested in it, and to the amazement of all of us, he went to this house as soon as it was finished. For the first time, he didn't seem afraid to go into a house. Since that day Meninâo has had a weatherproof house for himself and his companion and lives in it without fear. Sometimes he even comes out briefly to go straight back in. These are the most heartwarming moments when dogs reveal their trust in us in such a way.
(Meninâo´s old "shed")
(Meninâo´s new house in progress)
(Meninâo´s house nearly finished)
Meninâo is a great dog, he has a special place in my heart because of his suspicious nature and I am always happy to see him again. Sometimes I visit him and just sit with him in his house for a while. He's a proud homeowner and it has been worth all the money and effort for us. We humans often speak the same language, but still often don't understand how to make each other happy. It is all the more valuable for me / us that we manage to make happy even beings that we do not understand directly!
Meninâo is now an older man, the fur around his nose is slowly turning white. The longer I am in Germany to make money to run our farm, the greater the worry that I will not be able to be with the dogs. To not can accompany their life on the farm every day and try to make their life better and more fulfilling. I don't like to think about the last day of those dogs on the farm before they eventually go away forever, but when I think about it, I wish I could be with them that day. Even if my work in Germany means help for the farm, I feel bad every time I leave the farm. I often think of how the dogs were abandoned and abandoned several times in their previous life. I always hope that the dogs somehow understand that I won't let them down when I go to Germany again. I hope every time that all the dogs are still fine the next time I can come to the farm. There is constant tearing in the head and in the heart, but unfortunately there is no other way at the moment.
written September 5th | 2021
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