When my relationship with MM first started getting serious, we weren't even sure that he'd be able to live with Sebastian due to his allergies. With the help of Flonase and Zyrtec (plus the Advair he already took daily), MM has been able to live with Sebastian and be relatively symptom-free (95%, in his words). MM has been reluctant, however, to let me get a second dog.
Recently an email went out in my office about a dog needing a home. Because I work with a lot of dog lovers, these emails appear in my inbox at least once every couple of weeks. When MM saw the photos of this particular dog, though, he agreed that we could look into adopting him.
Apparently my husband loves German Shepherds. Who knew? I thought he only liked Schnauzers and bulldogs.
The dog's name is Darius, and he is a two-year-old, 98-pound, purebred German Shepherd. His "mom" is moving to Guatemala to build houses with Habitat for Humanity for three years and cannot take him with her. He has been trained, neutered, and obviously well cared-for.
MM and I have been jokingly asking Sebastian for a week if he wants a little brother. He, of course, has no clue what we're talking about.
We met Darius face-to-face for the first time Friday over lunch. He was fetching the ball at his neighborhood park, one of his favorite pasttimes. He was extremely focused and very fast.
Darius is from a Czech line of German Shepherds, many of whom have been trained as police dogs. He likes to work. He seems like a very sweet and smart dog, though with a very different personality from Sebastian's. (Sebastian has never focused on anything but food or petting.)
We are taking things slowly. I think Darius's "mom" wanted to meet and assess us first before introducing the dogs. . . which I think is fine and shows her love for her dog. The next step will be allowing the two dogs to meet in a neutral location, and we plan to do that within the next week. If they get along, we will then bring Darius to stay at our house for a few days and see (1) how he gets along with Sebastian and (2) whether MM's allergies can tolerate the second dog in the home. Twice the dogs means twice the hair and dander, and the texture of Darius's coat is quite different from Sebastian's.
So we'll see. I am cautiously optimistic.
4 comments:
How exciting.... I hope things work out for you guys and Sebastian bonds well... and of course that your hubby can handle the extra hair and such.... I always think animals do better with some companionship, after all, we need it so its safe to assume dogs would as well....
What a cutie. My dad was a cop, retired last year, and trained police dogs for quite a while earlier in his career. When I was little we had two German Shepards as pets, they were the police dog rejects (literally, one was so scared of loud noises he hid under cars when he heard guns going off!) and they were wonderful dogs.
I hope everything works out (and not just so I can get some GSD lovin' when I come visit. :)). Darius is beautiful!
He's a cutie! I hope things work out for the best, but even if not Darius, then some other pup that needs a loving momma and daddy! Having two dogs rocks - I never feel guilty about leaving them alone anymore. They just entertain each other (a/k/a sniff each other's butts).
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