In November of 2009, we had just purchased our first home. We were beginning to settle in and tackle projects, some needed, but mostly projects to make our house our home. Our biggest project was to be a total gut of our one and only bathroom.
One Saturday afternoon after visiting Jeremy's Dad's new puppy, I mustered my best poker face and suggested we visit our local shelter.
We signed the papers and brought Shephard home the next day. We had vague knowledge we were in for a challenge as the shelter shared with us they suspected abuse and/or neglect of some sort in his short 5 months on earth. S has a bald patch on his side our vet believes is the result of a burn. Our trip home involved 4 puppy puke sessions because he was so anxious.
Acknowledge this information as you hear the tales of Sir Shephardton, but dont dwell on it. It's a significant data point, yes, and it often guides our tactics with him- but trust us, there is much more to Shephard. Friendly to a fault, Anxious, Loyal, A Teacher, Sassy, Scared and Highly Intelligent are about right. In fact, as I sit here writing, he meanders around the office, anxious. I scoop up his bed from the other room, lay it down next to my chair with a bone and state: "Find your bed", aka, go lie down and settle yourself. He looks at me, looks at the bed. Approaches the bed and instead of lying down on it and enjoying his bone, he takes the corner of it in his mouth and glances at me cross eyed and begins to slowly drag the bed as he backs out of the room, much like when I try to sneak cookies without Jeremy noticing. I should stop and redirect, but alas, I've learned to choose my battles with him.
Many people meet our dog and assess him as a typical dog with obsessed owners. Trust us, we've heard it all! There may be some truth to the statements we are a bit preoccupied with him, but we also see the anxious, scared side of Shephard that most dont. We are acutely aware of his uncertain past and know we will likely always have work to do with him to keep him confident enough to be a typical dog, at least in public:) If he must, he can wear a hole in our floors pacing anxiously back and forth at home, but we'd prefer he just get his play on with his friends when we are out with others. But isnt that true of all of us? We work to manage our insecurities and idiosyncrasies to get the job done in public and relax a bit in the comfort of our own home.
When we talked about starting a blog, we acknowledged that we'll likely take more flack for being "obsessed". We'll likely get some grief that we are bad trainers with an untrained dog. That's okay with us. We can agree we love our dog a lot and if some need to label it an obsession, so be it. We also know that we are great trainers and that we work with him all the time. S not knowing his commands has never and will never be an issue. We started the blog because something became clear to Jeremy and I when we adopted Shephard. The longer he stands by our side the more clearly we see in ourselves the recognition of the place in the world animals hold and the special relationships they can have with humans. We realize the responsibility we have to this animal and the responsibility animal organizations take in advocating for and finding homes for animals. This is great work that has commanded our respect and engaged our passions. We wanted to share our journey with shelters and other families that have adopted these amazing dogs.
And mostly, we wanted to share the stories of Shep because he IS funny. He's brought great humor and teaching to two serious humans.
Almost a year later, the bathroom still isnt 100% finished. Its okay. That's one of the things Shep being here has taught me. He's also taught me my home will be wherever he and Jeremy are.
By the way, an hour after I directed him to "Find your bed"--after 2 trips outside, 3 trips up and down the stairs, throwing his toys down the stairs, knocking my hand off the keyboard for attention and 3 barks at dogs he doesn't know walking by requiring hot dog attention to assert its okay, the dog rumpus has finally made contact with the bed. Ahhhh.
Here are some pictures of our first few days with Shep:
