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| Name: |
Madeline
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Age: |
2 1/2 years old
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| Gender: |
Female |
Breed: |
German Shepherd Dog |
| Home: |
Montrose, Minnesota, USA |
Madeline's
story actually begins almost 20 years ago. You see, when I
was in 4th grade my family got a German Shepherd who we named Elsa. I
had had several dogs before Elsa, but Elsa was very unique. She
immediately became a huge fixture in our family. She was more than just
our pet, she was our friend, protector, and helper. Shortly after we
got her, my parents got a divorce. This was difficult because there
were four of us boys, and my mom was legally blind, meaning she could not
obtain a driver's license. We had to walk to the grocery store to get
food, and with four kids, we needed a lot of groceries. Often times, my
mom would have to stay home with my younger brothers, and I, being the
oldest would walk to the store with one other brother, and Elsa to get
the families groceries for the week. My mom could always trust that no
harm would come to us under Elsa's protection. In the warm months, Elsa
would help pull our Radio Flyer wagon, and in the winter months our
plastic red toboggan. While we were in the store, she patiently waited
outside by the bike rack. She made a difficult set of circumstances
incredibly easy, and I have thousands of memories from her
companionship. She died my senior year in college, and I told my then
girlfriend, now wife, that when we got a house, I would get another
German Shepherd.
In the fall of 2003, we had just finished building our 1st house, and
were set to get married a month later. We had been looking for a German
Shepherd for a while, and happened across an ad for two puppies very close
to our house. I called on the ad, and the breeder told me how she had
actually sold both puppies to another woman, but she was unable to keep
them due to her living arrangements. We drove out to meet her and
immediately chose Madeline. It wasn't long before the traits I fell in
love with in Elsa, started to shine through in Maddy as well. She is an
incredibly bright, and intelligent dog, but perhaps her biggest and best
quality is her affectionate, caring personality. As with all dogs, she
is very perceptive of our moods, but she is exceptionally attentive in
this regard. She is also an incredibly athletic and agile dog.
Elsa had more brute strength than Maddy does, but I would be hard
pressed to find any dog with the raw athletic ability or speed that
Maddy has. When she was just four to five months old, and still far from her
full height, she was able to jump up to our center island in the
kitchen. I am not just talking about her front legs, I mean she could,
in one single leap, land all four legs on a center island, the same height
as a kitchen counter, while still just a puppy. She did this often if
we we're conversing in the kitchen and she couldn't make eye contact.
Today, she hops up on the bar stool to chime in with her thoughts, and
add her two cents. Our back yard is fenced in, and there are several
dogs in the neighborhood that come over for a visit.
One of Maddy's best friends is a black lab named Blue, that lives behind
us. Blue comes over every day to race Maddy up and down the fence. I
use the word "race" loosely, because it really isn't much of a race.
The long stretch of the fence is about 200 feet long and borders a
walking trail. Blue will always instigate the race, trying to catch
Maddy off guard... he may get a 20-30 foot lead before Maddy beats him by
a good 75-100 feet. Blue usually will get frustrated, and change
directions mid race, heading back the way he came... Maddy will show off
by hitting the original finish marker before changing directions, and
beating Blue on the new one as well. Its incredible to watch, and many
people will stop by on their walks to watch her amazing speed. One
other feat she is famous for is her speed in catching a football. I
will stand on one end of my yard, throw the football across the yard so
it just falls inside the fence, and Maddy will beat the ball to the
other end of the yard. She rarely tries to catch it, because she is
still kind of scared of it hitting her, but she loves to race it!
My favorite times with her however are when she is at rest. She often
times is my pillow while lying on the floor watching basketball games.
And when the games go in to double overtime, she waits for me to go to
bed, long after my wife had already retired. Every night she hops in to
bed with us to watch Leno or Letterman, but when we start to doze off,
she hops down, opens the bathroom door, closes it behind her, and sleeps
in there until morning. Unless she is worried about us. Just the other
night I was lying in bed trying to loosen up a sore shoulder. Maddy was
worried that I was hurt, and instead of sleeping in the bathroom for the
night, she kept a vigil over me at my bedside until morning. Maddy has
less of a burden of caring for us the way Elsa did for me and my
brothers growing up, but she does just the same. She will never replace
Elsa, just as there will never be another dog that can replace her.
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