We lost our family dog about 4 years ago we'd had him 15 1/2 years and he was the best dog ever! The kids are on the run now, and DH and I are in that spot of maybe having a life, or as much of a life as you can have with masto, but actually going out antiquing once a month etc. because no need to run home and let the dog out. I'd still peruse the ads sometimes considering getting another especially as homebound as I am. But we were really liking the freedom to be gone longer hours and less vacuuming! I'm a big victoria stillwell fan and would watch it regularly in case we did get another dog, because ours was so easy to train. I was worried I'd have a more difficult time with the next one.  I'm one of those looney people that researches everything before diving in, I'm pretty breed knowledgeable as far as what I knew I did not want and the mixes that would fit our family if we were to take on another dog. When we get a dog it is a life commitment, he is a family member.
4 months ago my son calls me from work and they have a dog on site and he does not want to call animal control. Mom, he's got to be somebody's baby, he's beautiful, well groomed etc. I'm sure you can find the owner...... Off I go to get him, 10:00 at night, Oh wow, the photo made him look like a medium sized retriever mix..... Holy cow this is a shepherd mix he's huge!
Ads on craigslist, phonecalls to humane society and animal control, into the vets office to see if the chip lists an owner, flyers in starbucks and all the street corners/businesses in the area etc. After three weeks I find the "owner"....... Uuuuhhh .... I gave him away about two months ago, I don't have any information on who I gave him to... translation:  Yeah , I was lazy and didn't train him and I'm sick of his bad behavior now that he's 85 lbs.  We are talking potty training, leash training, etc this dog was a maniac. Beautiful though and sweet as all get out. Just an insane prey drive, very strong and a major major shedder, and well when an 85 lb dog poops and pees on your carpet after you've had him out every hour and a half for thirty to fourty minutes for three weeks and he still walks in and goes on the carpet. I wanna cry!........  So much of my dog training was working/but yet pushed to the max or what wasn't working was weird. Then I started noticing things and researching breeds I was suspicious were mixed with this beautiful bugger.....  yep that'd be the training problems I'm having, breed specific. I'd never really bought that, training is training, stay consistent and it will work. After 90 days he was walking well on lead, potty trained with a schedule, and cute as all get out, this dog can work it. But along with it came everything I would have never ever ever gotten, a seriously high energy dog, a dog that cannot ever be off lead unless within 6 ft fences, a dog that may never he has to go out (breed specific), sheds like a maniac.
So my idea after month one was, OK I will train him and foster him and only adopt him out once trained bigtime and only to someone who can pretty much write me an essay on the breed and it's quirks and how they will overcome them!   However, I'm a wicked crazy loyal doof who is exhausted, sick, but cannot let this poor dog lose another family. We are the first stability he's ever had, how can I rip that from him? He is smart as a whip, has come a long way in training, even off lead in our fenced yard recently..... enter this week and he's escaped twice. So back to no off lead dog, which means more walking for me, we were in the 108's while I was training him, it's still 100 so you can all get the whole heat/trigger thing.. . . I just want to sleep for a weekend! Again, absolutely precious personality!
So, we've had a set back with him escaping, and I'm whiney and tired, probably because I'm just so over the heat right now and well it's been a mast cell extravaganza this week, I'll get a grip, pitty party over...... but stupid jerk for not being responsible for his own animal! I forgot to add that I tracked him down though someone who rescued the dog a year ago, he was starving to death, wandering the wildlands of texas with a broken rope around his neck. This woman gave him to the doofus that lives in my town. He wouldn't respond to my e mails, calls, etc. I hunted him down on facebook, still nothing, then I found his wife and his twitter account and lucky for me he was a narcissit and loved to twitter everywhere he was going/work etc. Called his work, facebooked his wife and he finally answered that day! Meet Doug, named after Doug in the movie UP, hmmm photo not attatching.... must figure out what I did wrong Also forgot to mention he's a malamute mix. White mal and probably golden retreiver. His brain is 100 percent malamute.