I NEVER HAD A LOVE STORY

�I never had a love story���how profound is that statement? Those are the words that someone wrote on a website that I belong to. When I read what the woman had to say (she was writing about her three failed marriages), I just knew that I had to use those words for an article. �How sad those words are� I thought to myself. In this whole big wide world of ours there are those that will never know what it is like to love and to be loved. Sad, indeed! There are so many different loves in ones life if we were to look for it. There�s the love of one�s children, one�s animals, love of one�s job, love of one�s friends, love of God and country and the list can go on and on. Oh I foolishly said to a friend of mine many years ago, �I just love my car!� It was a fancy little red sports car which I wanted all of my life! My friend said to me, �Barbara, you can�t love a car! It�s a thing.� He was right, I suppose, but I did love driving around it anyway! But truth be told, we are all looking for that connection with a significant other that all the other loves of our lives just aren�t capable of filling.

Some of us will love more than once or twice in our lifetime, but to find �the one� is what most of us are looking for. But what if you never do find �the one� should you give up on love altogether thinking that it�s for everyone else but not for you? There are no guarantees in life. Perhaps you will never have a �love story!� We are all capable of loving. It�s our God given right. But it doesn�t mean that we will be loved back. It�s the subject that makes the Country/Western singers a fortune and yet some of their real life �love stories� are nothing but horror stories! Maybe that�s why they�re so good about writing and singing about pain!

Now one can live a life of bitterness and exclaim, �What about me? Why doesn�t someone love me?� Or you can choose to be a loving person anyway. Love will come to us in many different ways when we open ourselves up to it. And because this is a blog about dogs and more specifically the German Shepherd Dog; let�s begin there.

I�ve written many articles about the love one can receive from their dog. There truly is nothing like it. Even the most bitter of human beings can be wilted away to a blushing fool if he surrenders and opens up his heart to the love a dog. I don�t know of another being on this planet earth that is more determined and will try harder to win your love than a dog. It is after all what he lives for. No really, it is his only purpose on this earth. We don�t eat of his flesh, or drink of his milk or use his hide for leather. He is here to love and serve us, to guide and be a companion to us. I dare say, not too unlike a partner in one�s life!

I got up this morning thinking about how short a dog�s life is and wondered why that was. My oldest dog will be 8 in a couple of months and I hate it. I had just finished reading about a friend�s dog who is 13 and how hard it is for her to get around now and I read about the love he had for her in every word that he wrote. I don�t know why our dogs live such short lives. Why are they here for such a short time? Oh I do believe with all of my heart and soul that they are here to teach us how to love. I think dogs should be called �love� because I can�t find another purpose for them to be here on earth! I found this wonderful little quote about dogs: �The dog is mentioned in the Bible eighteen times and the cat not even once!� W.E. Farbstein (referring to the Old Testament). That�s not to say the cat is not some peoples beloved pets as well. But to know the love of a dog is to have him kidnap your soul. When he leaves us, it�s like a part of our soul leaves with him. I still find myself thinking of some of my beloved dogs that have been gone for many, many years. My love for them has never ended. They shall remain with me for the rest of my life. I still dream about some of them and I love it because they remain living, loving creatures if only for the amount of time I lay sleeping.

The fear of rejection is a very strong emotion that we all have. You can love someone and they don�t have to love you back. This is never the way with a dog. They will never reject your love. For the dog lover, we are �mad as hell� that they are with us for such a short amount of time. Geez, dear Lord, we�re just �getting going� with the dog. We�ve got so many more things we want to do with him yet. We�ve got places to go, people to see, things to do yet with our dogs. Why are you taking him away so soon? We�re just getting started! �Don�t take my love away we want to scream. Not yet. We�ve got so much more loving to do yet.� All our crying and pleading doesn�t change it. The dog will only be with us for maybe 8 � 15 years and it�s never enough! So love him now, because time keeps on moving whether we want to move along with it or not!

I believe the dog is a teacher without any words to speak. He speaks volumes in his actions and in his eyes that are almost human like. He sends messages to us about life every day. He teaches us how to survive with very little, how to forgive the unforgivable, how to enjoy life with the bare minimum, and how to love the loveless. Is it any wonder why we are tortured and grieve so much when they leave us? To have a being here with us for such a short time and to show us so much about living and loving is more than most of us can bear. But if we learned what we needed to from the dog, then we will have learned that we can go on without their physical presence with us. For you see when the dog came into our lives, he also snuck into our souls and it�s there that he resides until we meet up with him again on the other side of Heaven�s gate!

A few days ago, someone posted (on Facebook) a painting of all different kinds of dogs sitting up in the clouds on the other side of Heaven�s Gate waiting to be rejoined with their masters. I loved it and pray that God does rejoin us all with our beloved pets someday. They are by far some of the most angelic creatures put on this earth in my opinion!

There was a popular love song written back in 1984 called �I Want to Know What Love Is.� Some of us may never find it with another human being, but I believe God sends us love in many different ways. So if you never had a �Love Story�, but instead had the love of a dog, you have truly known the purity of what love is suppose to be. Grab onto her fast for she leaves us all too quickly. Your dog may just end up being the love of your life. It may have not been the love you were looking for, but it�s what you got and your life may never be the same again.

So if your dog is laying by your side right now like mine is snoring away as loud as a truck driver, reach down and pet her on her head and let her know that you love her. Oh loving doesn�t come without pain whether it is with another human being or your dog, but which ever it may be; hold on fast because you�re in for the time of your life. Embrace it; be thankful for it even if it�s for the short time you share with your dog. All it means is that you�re alive and still kicking and you can keep on kicking until you take your last breath. You are loved! Maybe you didn�t know it then, but the two of you began writing your own love story the moment God sent her to you.

Is it true then, �It�s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all?� This writer thinks so!


My rating: dog ownership: (4)!

AGAINST ALL ODDS

Okay so your dog didn�t win the Grand Victor or Grand Victrix title at the German Shepherd Dog National Specialty Show this past week. He didn�t come home with an obedience or herding trophy either. Maybe he didn�t even win a ribbon. Heck, then there are those like most of us that didn�t even show at the National. Maybe we didn�t show because we couldn�t afford it. Perhaps we didn�t want to fly with our dogs and just maybe we didn�t have anything good enough to really compete with. So we stayed home and watched the show on the streaming video or read Evan�s blog for a step by step account of life at the National. One way or another, we were all clued to our computer screens waiting for a phone call from a friend that was there or an announcement to be made flashing across our screens.

This year the entries were down, but I�m told the quality was up. But one fact remains, big show or small show, most exhibitors are going home empty handed. No ribbon, no trophy. Hopefully because they are good sports they bring home with them many fine memories of a great show with friends and some great looking dogs.

Every year before the National, there is much talk about who will be chosen this years Grand Victor or Grand Victrix. Were your favorites chosen? Were there any surprises? How about the Grand Victrix who wasn�t even a champion yet? Against all odds���..she is now this years Grand Victrix! Way to go! Congratulations to all the winners!

Have you ever owned a dog that no one else wanted? Perhaps he was a shelter dog that someone threw away. Maybe he was the runt of the litter that never got sold. Or maybe he had genetic health problems and you felt it was your responsibility to take care of him for the rest of his life. Did any of these dogs turn out to be real special and that you are so happy that you never got rid of them? Were any of these dogs the best dog that you ever owned? What made them so very special? Did they beg to be noticed? Did they go out of their way to impress upon you that although God didn�t give them a pretty face, he gave them a great old big heart that knew no competition? What made your non-champion, you�re non-obedient titled dog one of the best you ever owned?

I�ve already told the story of a scaly little runt of a female puppy that my top producing champion bitch gave birth to. As I already said, other breeders would have perhaps let her go to puppy dog Heaven. But against all odds, I literally breathed life into this puppy�s lungs to give her every chance to live. And live she did. Yup, she was a homely little thing alright having to fight for her drink of momma�s milk or her place at the puppy dog�s dish of food, but it was her will to live, her will to survive that seen her through her life. She lived to a ripe old age loving life on a farm in New York.

What makes a champion a champion is the dog that shows with a lot of heart. He shows his heart out for his owner. He commands the ring and defies you not to notice him. He stands among his peers and never considers them as competition. Well the same thing can be said about the unattractive dog that no one else wants��there is something about him that makes him stand out. Perhaps it�s his tenacity, or his will to survive and never give up, or his claiming his right to his life that makes him stand out. He�s out to prove to the world that there is a reason he was born to begin with. Because this dog hasn�t been born with the superficial armor of beauty, he has to work extra hard to prove the beauty that�s in his heart.

The will to survive����..the will to claim your God given right on this earth���is God�s gift to all his creatures. Some claim it and hold on against all odds!


From the book: �AMAZING GRACIE: A DOG'S TALE� - Now in paperback, AMAZING GRACIE is a moving, funny, and inspirational canine rags-to-riches story. "Tears will stain the pages as you read about Gracie," says USA Today. The Chicago Tribune advises, "If you're short on inspiration, read Amazing Gracie." "You don't have to be obsessed with dogs to love this story" (Philadelphia Enquirer), "Two paws up" (Portland Oregonian), "humorous yet poignant" (ASPCA Animal Watch). Booklist comments that "Dog-loving teens, especially reluctant readers, will eat this up." AMAZING GRACIE was nominated as a Young Adult Choice for 2002 by The International Reading Association-proof that it's a great crossover book.

Gracie was a deaf and partially blind albino Great Dane with a delicate constitution and a penchant for small miracles. Dan is the man-sad over the loss of his last dog and trapped in a dead-end job-who adopted her. Three Dog Bakery is the burgeoning and much-publicized chain of canine bakeries that, inspired by Gracie, Dan and his friend Mark founded. A love story, AMAZING GRACIE describes how Dan saves Gracie, the loneliest pup in the litter, then how, over the next ten years, Gracie saves Dan and Mark, teaching them the real meaning of happiness. There's the moment of meeting, when Gracie gets to her feet like a clumsy foal and nuzzles Dan's nose. Gracie's romance with the pint-size Boston Terrier next door. And the eureka moment (born of Gracie's anorexia-inducing dislike for commercial dog food): Dan teaches himself to cook and within three days begins baking the dog cookies that will transform their lives. AMAZING GRACIE is a dog-lover's treat.


My rating: Champion or not....a German Shepherd is a German Shepherd: (4)

WHAT WOULD YOUR LIFE BE LIKE WITHOUT A GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG?

I got the theme for this subject after being slobbered on for the umpteenth million time this morning by three German Shepherds running around the house like maniacs! One has a chewed up bone hanging out her mouth that can no longer be distinguished as having ever belonged to any creature walking on this earth. The other one is trying to figure out how she�s going to get that �treasure� from her sister�s mouth. And the third one drops a limp, lifeless saliva encrusted stuffed toy on my lap. In between, they stop, gulp some water, come back to decorate my bare arms with their drool, smell my clothes, scratch their pleasingly plump bodies next to me assuring that some more stray hairs land on my keyboard. And the �Dog Whisperer� tells us to remain calm and assertive. I throw calm out the window and in my most assertive voice, yell (scream) �I�ve had enough.� I still can�t figure out how they can stand there with those �cow brown eyes� wagging their tail loving me anyway when two of them are shown the back door!

In the morning one likes to drink their cup of coffee, relax, open up their e-mails or look at the morning newspaper. If you�re a writer and anything like I am, I need and demand �quiet!� I can�t concentrate otherwise. I think my Amber must think I�m nuts sometimes because she�s the whining (I need lots of attention) type of dog. She lives in the house all day with me and many a time she is told to go to her bed when she�s in one of her �demanding� moods. She knows what I mean too because after a little fuss, I point the finger towards the other room and tell her to get into her bed.

So these are just some of the fun reasons why I �love� owning a German Shepherd. I wonder what my life would be like without them. Now let me think about this�..

I�d be wealthier for one thing. No more buying Holistic or natural food. No more looking for the meat bargains at the supper market to add to their diet. Oh yeah, no more buying a special supplement to add to their food. No more vet bills. No grooming bills. No more buying grooming supplies. There would be no need for a dog run in my yard. There would be no dog houses. No kiddie�s pools. No expensive dog toys. No more worn out bones to decorate my living room rug. There would be no need to upgrade my car to a van. No need to invest any money for cushy dog beds to line the corners of my den. No need to buy an industrial strength vacuum cleaner to pick up your never ending dog hair!

I would no longer have the need to call one of those dog handlers to show my dog at the local specialty club. No spending money on entry fees. No traveling expenses. I wouldn�t have to stay at one of those �Super 8� motels anymore. No more eating those shriveled up hot dogs that they pass off as food at the shows. Oh yeah, no more having my dog grab the rest of that hot dog when my head is turned talking to Gertrude who stops to have a chat.

No more stud fees. No more shipping my bitch across the country. No more x-rays to see how many little darlings we can expect. No spending money on the OFA for my dog�s hips and elbows. No buying a whelping box. No puppy food and supplements. No worming medicines. No need to buy any dog crates. Oh yes, and no more dealing with annoying puppy people!!!!!!!!!!

No more planning my vacation around the National Specialty show. I mean who wants to go to �Anyplace, USA� in some cow pasture when I could be lying on the pink sands of Tahiti instead?

Gee after looking at these last few paragraphs, I feel richer already! So if money is no problem for you, let�s take a look at all the other things you�d miss without a German Shepherd Dog in your life.

There would be no need to wrestle a dog to the floor to clip their nails. There wouldn�t even be a reason for me to buy those �tasty� dog treats to bribe them with to do their nails in the first place. There wouldn�t be one single dog hair on my floors, my clothes, my computer, my car or any other place for that matter. They�d be no more muddy footprints decorating my floors. No more doggies breathe. Just think, no more doggie aroma assaulting my nostrils!

There would be no more jumping up on the counters, the stove, the table top or any other place that a food morsel may have been left behind. No more smudges on the sliding glass door or the living room window. My windows in my car would be free from this assault as well. No nudging me while I�m cooking dinner hoping I�ll share a piece of whatever it is smelling so �gosh darn good!� No more following me into the bathroom or hearing you scrape at the door if I close it in your nosy little face.

There would be no more cleaning up soiled dog runs. No more bleach splashing on my once dark pants. No more looking like a rag woman because I�m too tired to go to the beauty parlor after taking care of you all day. No more brushing your coat to make you look pretty. Now I�ll brush my hair to make me look pretty.

No more nose up my butt. No more tripping over you because when I turn around�..there you are! No more breaking my ankles on you scattered toys all over the house. No more listening to you snoring. No more sharing my favorite pillow with you. No more opening the back door telling you to be quiet with your unwelcome barking. No more interruptions from you while I�m talking on the telephone. Finally I could get an insurance company that wouldn�t hang up on me when he asks me what breed of dog I have.

Oh yes, life is beginning to feel simpler and better already. Yes sir, there�s more money in my pocket. I�ve got a cleaner house and a cleaner car. No more yellow stains on my lawn. You betcha� life is good��..richer, but really poorer. Cleaner��but who cares anyway? Oh yeah and a whole lot lonelier! No more �laugh out loud� silly moments. No more unconditional love. No more loyal companion by my side. Oh no is that somebody trying to break in my cleaner bigger house? He�s after all my riches! Where is that darn dog when I need him anyway? I forgot I chose not have a dog in my life anymore!


My rating: owning a German Shepherd Dog: (4), not owning any pets: (1)

WORKING UP A SWEAT

When�s the last time you and your dog worked up a sweat together? After having high temperatures and even higher humidity these last few days in New York, today is beautiful. As I write this the sun is shining and its only 65 degrees this morning. The weatherman promises it�s not going to be any hotter than 76 degrees today. This is the type of day to get out and enjoy nature. Yes sir, I like this day all ready!

What kinds of things do you do to have fun with your dogs? Do you take them hiking? Do you go swimming with them? How do you take advantage of a beautiful day like this to enjoy with your dogs? I have been really bad about getting my dogs out. �Amber� and �Bu� love to go for walks. �Jess� is not really thrilled with it. She�d rather be home eating something! The trick for me today will be to get them all out one by one. The problem is when you take one out, the rest carry on screaming and complaining.

Oh I tried taking two of them out together. One day, I took the two sisters out to a local park with trails around the outside of the lawn. Let me tell you that was a big mistake. You try to do something fun and it was more aggravation than anything else. I should have known better than that with my two �wild childs!� All they did was crisscrossing one another and tangling up the leashes more than I care to remember. So �OK, I shout��I�ve had enough. Your sorry little butts are going back to the car.� So we turn around and do the same thing with twisting up the leashes while desperately trying to make it back to the car. You want to build up a sweat? There you go. Try handling two uncontrollable youngsters. Caesar Milan where are you when I need you?

I live at the bottom of a mountain. My mother all ways called this God�s little mountain. And right she was. When you go hiking up the mountain, the noise and the traffic slowly diminishes the higher you climb. All of a sudden you become very aware of the stillness and the silence. You truly are one with nature.

One day I took Amber up the mountain. This used to be a routine of ours as part of her exercise program. I�d walk her up part of the trail on a leash. When we got safely away from the road, I�d let her run loose. �Yee haw!� She loved it. Freedom at last. I was all ways aware of the danger of being in the woods and the many wild animals that we share these woods with. It would all ways make me a bit nervous. You never know what you may run into when you least expect it. On this day, we ran into a bunch of deer. �Amber� saw them and she was in hot pursuit. They took off so quickly up over the hill, she stopped as if to say, �Where did they go?� Thank God I put basic obedience training in her. I called her back to me because she knew when she came; she�d be rewarded with those treats that I all ways carried in my pocket when going out for a walk. My biggest fear was that we might run into a black bear. We never did. Thank God.

German Shepherds love to go everywhere with their owners. Exploring the woods and trails of a mountain excites their senses. �Bu� is at her happiest when she�s exploring things. Her tail never stops wagging. My biggest concern this time of year is those little nasty cousins of the yucky spiders known as the tick. I no longer use any of those poisons on my dogs. Every day they get sprayed with lavender oil mixed with water. I haven�t found any ticks on them for these last two summers. However, I haven�t taken them for a walk in the woods in a long time either.

Because our dogs are great companions, it�s a shame if we don�t include them in more of our outdoor activities. My first German Shepherd I used to take hiking with me. We�d take her to a river and she loved to go swimming. She was the type of dog that would try anything as long as she was doing it with us, she was happy. Only problem with Helga is that you didn�t want her swimming too close to you. She�d run you over with her �doggie paddle� style of splashing and kicking. Get too close and she would almost drown you.

Through out the years, I would buy my dogs those kiddie pools to splash around in. They loved it. It was an inexpensive way for them to have fun and at the same time keep themselves cooled off. �Rajah� loved to just lay down in it. He was so dark so he�d really feel the heat of the sun more than some of the other ones.

When I lived in Westchester, my friend Nancy Vaught (Masstana Shepherds) and I used to go out several times a week to exercise our dogs. We would each take a couple of our dogs to the Pound Ridge Reservation and go hiking with them on the trails. I�d take my �Xanadu� and maybe one or two of the others and Nancy would take whoever it was that she was trying to condition for an upcoming show. We never had a problem with any of our dogs getting in to a scuffle. They all knew that they were there to have fun. Some of the trails winded along side of streams that followed us on our long walks. Another time we�d take another path. You know what looking back at those days, I don�t remember ever having problems with ticks. I wasn�t treating my dogs with anything like they have now like Frontline. I might have been using a flea collar, but I don�t remember. This was back in the 80�s. We never ran into any wild animals but we would occasionally hear a deer or two off in the distance. Those were the good old days.

My friend Lorraine Cohen and her husband Marc take their dogs sailing all the time. She�s sent me pictures of some of the dogs on the boat in the past but unfortunately I didn�t save them. She�s been sailing with her dogs for years. All those years ago, she would take her Select Kharu with her. Now her Select Annie and the younger generation go sailing.

Even taking your dog for a walk around the neighborhood can be very rewarding for you and your dog. It�s great exercise for the both of you. It�s a great way to socialize your dog and it�s a great way to bond with your animal. Any dog at any age loves to take a walk. It�s all about him exploring and being with you. Dog shows are fun, but hiking with your dog is even better.

So what kinds of things do you do with your dog? Are you having fun with him? So now that I wrote this short little article, it looks like I�m going to have to get off of my �posterior� and break out in a sweat. It�s summertime and the living is easy��


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My rating:  exercising with your dog:  (4), raising couch potatoes:  (1)