zeke

if you knew vanessa, it is an almost total certainty that you also knew her beloved german shepherd zeke. he was her family, her constant, her best furry friend forever...

she raised him from a puppy and devoted herself to him completely. you'd never meet a more well-trained and handsome gentleman of a dog than zeke.

i would be remiss if i didn’t write a post about one of the best decisions i’ve ever made in life: getting a dog. we had a dog for part of my childhood and it was a devastating day when he passed away. it made me wonder if i could ever handle that again and take on getting a dog of my own one day. i knew i had to wait until i’d have time in my schedule to commit to training a dog properly and i was in a physical location suitable for a dog. i also did years, yes, years of research before i decided what kind of dog i wanted.  

i grew up with the coolest Siberian husky ever, his name was Sonny Jurgensen. for those of you who know why that’s such a sweet name, i applaud you. so i thought i wanted a husky originally but i thought it would be too difficult to avoid any association with memories of Sonny. so i was back to the drawing board. i started with the basics, i knew i wanted a big dog with a high activity level so i could take it on runs and lots of walks. i needed a dog that could tolerate multiple climates because, at the time i was in the military, meaning i had little control over where i lived. so i was looking for adaptable breed. after all the lists i made and books i read, i decided i wanted a German shepherd.  

i called several breeders and visited a few i was considering working with to find my new companion. now i know some of you are thinking ‘are you crazy! adoption is the only way to go! there are so many pets in need out there! how dare you go through a breeder, those are puppy mills!’, or something like that. i know, i considered adoption but as a first time dog owner i wanted a dog i could start fresh with and wasn’t sure i could handle a rescue. i’m definitely adopting next time. the ‘puppy mill’ description associated with some breeders did terrify me which is why i did as much background checking as possible before choosing a breeder.  

after a lot of coordination and communication with the breeder i eventually chose, the day finally came. the litter i had deposited money for second choice male was ready to be picked up. i drove 5 hours in the snow and met with the breeder and then got to meet the puppies. i was so excited but i reigned it in as i met all the adorable little furry ones. how was i possibly going to choose? it seemed impossible. until i saw one of the puppies trying to escape out the back door. he had no interest in playing with or howling along with his brothers and sisters and had no interest in me. his sole mission was to get outside and get into who knows what. i pictured him trying to bust out and go run free in the snow. his mischievous nature, whatever the intent, drew me to him.

to this day his mischievous tendencies remain but he isn’t destructive or anything. there are so many amazing words i could use to describe zeke, but sometimes it’s better to let these pictures speak for themselves. know this for sure, he’s one of the best things that ever happened to me. my life changed so drastically that day and i couldn’t be happier about it. 3 and a half years later we’re both still loving life, well i am at least, i can only hope he is since he can’t talk…

a reply to a comment left on this blog post:

hahaha, i appreciate your thoughts about adoption and the overall dog-owning process. i’m so sure your dogs are awesome and positive they’re beyond lucky to have been saved by a thoughtful, loving person…pat yourself on the back from me. and don’t worry, i tried to put a badger jersey made for XL dogs on him once and he freaked out, that was the first and only time he’s worn clothes. but he does wear a UW badger collar 🙂 and i’m guessing he’s pretty proud of it…most of the time at least.