The Good Dog

Jenny is our German Shepherd. We used to have two. Schaeffer had to be put down. He was really old. Jenny has had quite the life so far.

We got her three years ago. She was just a few months old and got bit by a rattlesnake that got into our backyard in Lancaster. She almost died. But, with a lot of money, medicine works. She spent the entire weekend going from one hospital to the other (the emergency vet is only open when the regular vet isn't and you have to transport the animal back and forth). This happened on a Friday, at 6:00pm. Anyway, she is fine now and no worse for wear.

Jenny has always been very rambunctious. She was bred specifically to have "high drive", a term used to describe dogs that are to be trained in Schutzhund, the German protection dog training. She was not meant to be a backyard dog. But we didn't have the money to do the training, and so she didn't get it. So, she got busy in the backyard. Destroying everything.
The picnic table. Like a big termite attacked it.
The kids balls that got left out. She shredded them.
The resin chairs (ate them)
The patio supports. She chewed them up.
The sprinklers. She would attack them and rip them out of the ground.
She ruined the grass.
She ruined everything that got in her way.
She jumped on people who went in the backyard.
You know that show, "It's Me Or The Dog", well, that is how I felt.
Until we moved.

I took both dogs to the vet to get Jenny her Rabies shot and have Schaefer put down. Then she came with me to the new house. But this was not the same Jenny that went with me to the vet. This Jenny is pretty close to perfect. She is calm. She is well-behaved. She rolls around on her little tiny patch of grass. She doesn't eat the sprinklers. She even comes in and sleeps in the doggy crate at night and doesn't want to go back outside in the morning. She doesn't jump anymore. Scott had purchased something to get her to stop jumping. He never opened it and took it back the other day. We never used it. Didn't need to.

Maybe it was the wind. Maybe it was seeing her buddy get left at the vet. Maybe it was something else. But Mama is very happy now that we have a well-behaved dog! She still kicks up her heels and runs in circles when she gets excited, but she is really, very good. We were going to find a home for her, but as long as she keeps being good, it isn't a problem. So, I don't know what it was, but we have a very nice dog now. Who knew?