My friends often  tell me that I  am a dreamer who makes things happen.  Sometimes it appears that  the more unrealistic, wild or out there the dream is,  the more likely  it comes true.

Today,  I decided to share something that I have shared only with a handful of my closest friends.

I am sitting on board a Westjet Boeing  737 on route to Maui – Hawaii with my dog Skai snoozing at  my feet. Tomorrow morning, Skai and I will get up and go  for  our run on  a beautiful and wild beach on the North Shore of the island.

I  imagine that you  are  about to ask the much  asked  question.  How did you get your dog to fly on board with you?

I am sharing the following story with you in hopes that   it will inspire you to follow  your dreams.

Back in the 70’s

When I was growing up, times were different. As soon as we knew our way to school in the first grade, we walked  to school on our own. No baby sitters, no  mom’s driving us to school.When  we hit  our teenage years, our  parents  registered  us  in the local government run riding club; convinced that it was the best way to keep us out of trouble. We started  our lessons on Shetland  ponies. Small but smart little horses,  that  learned to shed us off  quickly by running  under the fence of the riding ring. Usually   they left us hanging on the railing like a pair of dirty socks, which definitely was not much fun.

As  we got older, we transitioned to riding the “real horses”;  big and strong yet sensitive, careful and considerate. We all had our favorite horse that  each of us looked  after and  I  fell in  love with Alfa a gentle chestnut mare with white socks, a wide white blaze and beautiful, sparkly eyes. She also suffered from a chronic tendinitis, a common injury in  horses.

I grew tall  very fast and  it was decided that Alfa  should be ridden only by smaller kids.  I didn’t  care much for that decision but I  continued to look after Alfa;  washing her, brushing her and  taking her for walks in the  nearby  fields.

I also watched helplessly, when careless trainers made her go on in the riding ring despite her lameness. She was obviously in pain and I grew more angry inside  because the trainers ignored my request to allow her to rest. I was just a kid…

It was then, that I  decided to become a vet.

With 4 kids in the family, we didn’t  have the money to purchase Alfa. One day, I made a wish for her to be sold to someone  who  could give her a better life.  My wish was heard  only a few weeks later and soon Alfa was sold to a wonderful family in a nearby village.

I was heartbroken but knew that it was the best thing  that  could  happen to her.   My beloved Alfa  spent  the rest of her life in a pasture with a beautiful pond and a stable with a wooden floor and  a thick layer of daily fresh straw bedding.  This was my first experience with the power of intention.

I visited her whenever I could and even after I moved to Canada,  I found my way back a few times.  In the end,  I lost  touch with Alfa’s family and I  am not  certain when she passed away.  She was born on March 8, 1973 so it is likely that she passed away sometime around the year 2000.

Becoming a vet and a healer

I truly do believe that  if it  were not for Alfa, I  may have become an architect as per my father’s wishes.

He and I often clashed mainly because we were so alike. I also inherited  his tendency to nightmares and sleepwalking that  he suffered from. However,  my father, also veterinarian, gave me the gift of   deeper understanding and appreciation of animals. I was lucky twice because my grandfather,  a  herbalist , taught me about  herbs and natural remedies.

My nightmares  started when I was about 5 years old. The  dreams were vivid and often terrifying.  I saw faces standing in my bedroom that looked so real that I  often screamed from my sleep,  jumping  up and  trying to escape the imaginary danger.

Sleepwalking and nightmares brought me a lot of challenges as a child and adult. Whenever I  went to a  summer  camp or  shared the dorm or a hotel  room with anyone, I was mortified about  having a nightmare and screaming from my sleep.

When I  was  24,  I came back home for the summer holidays after going through a series of very  challenging  exams. Stress always aggravated my condition.  I had a nightmare, ran through a glass  door of my bedroom and  lost more than ½ of my blood supply.  A  piece of glass cut one of the branches of my femoral artery and the doctors told me I was very  lucky to be alive.

I graduated from vet school in 1988 and 3 years later,  I moved to Canada with my wife Iveta.

Fast forward to year 2001

Skai came to my life at a challenging time. Going through a divorce, I needed to reset and find a new rhythm in life. Through a friend,  I learned about  a  litter  of border collie puppies at a nearby farm and one of them was Skai, then called Nickel.

Skai became not  only my best  friend,  he has also become a medical alert  dog  and was trained to  wake me  up in case I sleep-walked.

He especially loves running in the forest and I  taught  him to run a little obstacle  course over logs in a nearby  forest. Once I  joked that he was  like a horse and suddenly the thought  crossed my mind. What if Skai was the  reincarnated soul of Alfa – my horse?

They were so similar!  They had the same color, the same  white “ blaze “ and white feet!  The same personality and zest  for life, the will to please and take challenges  quietly with stride.

Then  my ex-wife Iveta came for a visit and we  went for a walk. Skai was so eager to show her his new obstacle course that he ran it with perfection.

Without  me  mentioning to Iveta what I thought of Skai, she  suddenly exclaimed   “Oh my God, he is like your horse!  He is exactly like your horse!  What  if he is Alfa who came back to you?”

From that  day  on,  I simply  could not  prevent  myself from thinking about this seeming coincidence. What  if   Skai is  truly Alfa? What if her spirit came back to me through Skai, my beloved dog?  This time, I can give him the best care, protect him and I would not  allow anyone to make him go on, if injured.

I simply stopped caring if this  was true or not.  After all, not  one single person in this world  can  truly confirm or deny reincarnation. Just  the  idea,  just  the thought  that  the soul of  Alfa came back to me to “relive” our lives  together gave me an immense sense of joy and healed my childhood  wound.

Today, I don’t see  my  sleepwalking  as an annoyance anymore. Thanks to  it,  Skai can  travel  with  me on commercial flights  and  I  am very grateful for that.

What  seemed like a misfortune became a blessing.

I am sitting here on a Maui bound airplane with Skai under  my  feet and just  looking at him brings tears  of joy to my eyes.

Remember, If  you have ever gone through a painful loss of  a loved  one,  a friend, family member or a four legged friend, keep your eyes and your senses open.  You never know; they may be closer than you think.  They may come again to heal you, teach  you and fill your heart with unconditional love the same way my dear Skai has.

With gratitude,

Your Captain

PS :   You don’t  need to be sleep walking  to make your dream of flying with your dog  come true. I hope that as  our  membership grows  bigger, Flying Dog Club will  be able to organize  chartered flights  with  you and your best friend on board.

To do this,  we need to  tell others  and get our membership numbers up. I kindly ask you  to  forward this invitation to  all people who may be interested.

Register or tell your friends now! Read more about Flying Dog Club