We had a 130 lb. Akita.
(Yes, he was blonde).
My youngest daughter, who was doing martial arts with Shaolin Buddhist monks in Northern China at the time, was home for a visit, and we named him Sensei.
She called this a “Hurricane.” A horizontal airborne spin.
Sensei was a gentle soul unless he saw a squirrel when we were out for a walk.
If I saw the squirrel before he did, I would quickly double wrap the leash around my hand and brace myself. But if he saw it first, it was like water-skiing behind one of those muscle boats with twin 427 inch, turbo charged engines.
Even in his senior years, he was stronger than Mike Tyson. Muscles of titanium, I kid you not.
After 17 years, his arthritis had overtaken his body to the point that it was time for him to go chase squirrels in that great dog park in the sky.
To help us with this somewhat emotional transition, we called on the services of Dr. Annie Forslund who performs home pet euthanasia in the most painless and compassionate manner imaginable.
The woman is a saint.
If you live anywhere in Southern California and it’s time for your pet to move on, Dr. Annie is as good as it gets. (www.homepeteuthanasia.com)
After a short time, we were ready to fill the void.
I love German Shepherds. I had one as a kid, as did my wife. So we visited two of the many Shepherd rescue centers here in greater LA.
At the second center, we found and adopted Katya.
Pretty, isn’t she?
While she settled into our home well, there were a couple of points that needed some correction. And so we called our good friend, Michael Chill.
Michael is one of the foremost dog trainers in Southern California, though he also has a national reputation for his work with wolves, including hand-raising the first wolf pack for the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minnesota.
Michael came over and spent an invaluable hour with us giving us simple but important tips on how to train Katya. This guy is a pro. He knows and understands dogs and their behavior. He knows how to make your relationship with your pet a total joy.
http://asdogtraining.com/Home_Page.html
Dogs are cool and I felt like promoting a couple of professionals in the canine world that you can call on, if needed.
Best,
Bruce Wiseman
Toluca Lake
PS: My wife had a guest over to the house one afternoon. He was an Armenian gentleman. He claimed Sensei was an Armenian mountain dog called a Gampr.
Perhaps. I still consider him an Akita with a mutant blonde gene.