Rescued

Our love of animals was evident by a houseful. We had parakeets, a rescued cockatiel, and a parrot that we’d had since he was very young. Our dog had died Easter weekend. We were all broken hearted about that. No dog could ever replace our special boy. Lloyd had his 5th heart attack in June. We were a mess.

There was a German Shepherd mix that was being fostered for 3 weeks and he needed a permanent home. He had last been adopted for one week and sent back. The dog had been in an Omaha shelter. We knew nothing else of his life, but I was being called to meet this puppy.

I had a plan to get Lloyd active again by training the pup. He was due to have his shoulder replaced in August, so this could be his pre surgery therapy & after heart attack work out.

The little guy was adorable. I fell hard for him right away. I tried not to show it and let the family play and watch him. It was obvious everyone was in agreement. We just had to get some paperwork together and in a few days He was ours.

We brought our new puppy home. Since we didn’t know his history, we gave him a break, but still crate trained him. He had been taught “kennel” by someone and immediately stopped what he was doing and went to It. I had to be careful with my words. I told my daughter to go to bed & Zeus went to his crate. He was a smart dog & we could tell very trainable.

Lloyd spent an afternoon with him one day and proudly showed off the new skills when I got home from work: sit, shake, down, dead dog. He loves dog cookies, but I have to turn the wolf picture away from him. The Bark Park is his most favorite place to be & he interacts with all the dogs, even the ones on the other side of the fence. He always runs with those dogs to make sure they get someone to play with too. Our park separates big dogs from little dogs.

I’m still not sure if we rescued him, or he rescued us.

No matter, having a dog in the house again is fun.

Having a dog reduces stress, makes us live and enjoy the now, gives us compassion, boosts your mood, increases exercise, and gives a best friend to tell our secrets to.

–Trust in the Lord and do Good…

Psalm 37:3