If you had asked me even a few months ago if I would ever take a photo of a three-legged barn cat two weeks from surgery, a Rottweiler-Shepherd mix, a border collie, and a Labrador Retriever all napping together in one corner of our living room, I would have simply laughed at the impossible idea of it. Barn cats do not hang around with dogs, they avoid them at all costs, Rottweiler-Shepherds like Frieda has runaway prey drive and chase cats whenever they can, border collies are notoriously restless and edgy and Lenore, of course, might take a nap with anything, although still, three dogs and a barn cat in a tight space..well, I just didn’t think it could happen.

Minnie was out all morning, she did some exploring, she holed up in the barn, we brought her in for the afternoon and the night and she went to sleep on Frieda’s bed. One by one, the dogs came in and lay down around her, almost in a circle. I am often forced to acknowledge that I do not know what animals are thinking, they surprise me all of the time, they have an enormous capacity for adaptation, and I am glad I give my dogs a chance to succeed as well as fail. Maria was nervous about letting Frieda near Minnie, who cannot run, but Frieda has never failed to rise to the moment when given the chance.

The photo will remain a symbol to me of how much I can learn from animals and how little I really understand them.