|
 We
can't fight fate - when something is meant to be
we can only look it square in the eye and be
thankful for the blessings that fall in our
laps. My passion is dogs - I enjoy training
and helping others train their dogs. One day a
guy called who needed help with his 5 month old
German Shepherd puppy. After a few phone calls,
I went to this guy's apartment and found a
skinny, wormy, dirty but loveable, female German
Shepherd who was bored to death in a tiny
apartment while her owner worked 14-15 hours
each day. He wanted me to train her to "stay in
the back of his pick-up truck” and “stop tearing
up his apartment" while he was away all day. In
other words, he wanted me to work a miracle...
He had named the puppy "Missile",
and she was a handful! But she was grateful to
have attention, good food, worm medicine and a
bath, and most of all she enjoyed LEARNING. She
breezed through basic manners the first week,
and then we had to send her back to the
"apartment".
A few weeks later he called
again, "Can you please train her some more? I
have to work and I don't have time for her." I
agreed and she's back at my house again. He
comes back a week later, pays extra, and takes
her home again. I'm telling friends and family
every time she goes back it's breaking my
heart. A few weeks later he called again. This
time, he pays up front for two weeks training,
and never came back; wouldn't return phone
calls, we've all heard a similar story ... it
seemed I may be stuck with the dog.
 Three
weeks later, he calls back. "I'm sorry -- had
to leave town - she's good with you - do you
want to keep her?" I offered to keep her (after
all the time spent training her of course we
bonded with her, and had started to see there
was something special in Missile yet couldn't
quite put a finger on it…), if he signed her
over and I asked if she had (AKC) papers? He
said, "yeah, before I moved to Atlanta, I bought
her in Texas from some lady out in the country
about an hour south of Houston. I think she was
born on Dec 10, but I lost the papers and that's
all I can remember..." I agreed to keep Missile
if he would find the papers and mail them to me
or at least give me the name of the breeder. He
agreed to provide these and needless to say I
never heard from him again.
I wasn't looking for another dog,
in fact already had three at home - two 15 year
old cocker spaniels and a large mixed breed
recently rescued from the animal shelter. But I
remembered reading Rin Tin Tin books as a kid -
I had always wanted a "Rin Tin Tin" dog.
In a few months, Missile
grew into a 65 lb, 9 month old, beautiful girl
with a lovely mask and fantastic temperament.
She enjoyed "herding" the two old cocker
spaniels and chasing a volleyball in the back
yard. We continued training. She passed Basic
Obedience with ease, and earned her
Canine Good
Citizen in no time. I knew I wouldn't be able
to show her without AKC papers, and we wanted
to learn more about
Conformation. Obedience
club members and friends all advised to spay
Missile, apply for a limited registration with
the AKC, show her in obedience trials, and
forget about ever seeing any papers . Some said
to look for a "better dog" later.
Little miracles can be hard to
recognize. One day while traveling out of town,
I stopped to gas up at a convenience store in
the middle of nowhere, late at night. A shady
looking character followed me out of the
store on the way back to the car. I tried to
ignore him but I knew he was trouble. When I
reached the car, Missile (who had been laying
down in the back seat) simply sat up and stared
at the guy. The "bad guy" did a 180 and walked
away in the other direction.
I decided to look for Missile's
breeder before I spayed her, knowing it would be
like looking for a needle in a haystack. For
over a year I sent hundreds of inquiries,
emails, and made dozens of phone calls to any
German Shepherd breeder, club, organization,
etc, in the area we guessed she came from (near
Houston, TX). We live in Atlanta, GA, so had to
do all this from long distance. We called the
Houston Public library and ordered back copies
of newspaper classified ads around the time
Missile might have been 6-8 weeks old. No
luck. We hit dead end after dead end after dead
end. Friends and club members kept saying “give
it up! ...the guy probably lied about the
papers”. “Stop wasting time.”
“Give it up”, they said, and “get a BETTER DOG
LATER”. 
We kept searching anyway...
playing detective and hoping against hope might
get lucky. We’re really in love with Missile by
now, and want her to have just one litter of
pups to keep in the family. We don't want to
breed her irresponsibly, however.
 One
day I asked my mother if she would say a
prayer for us to find Missile's breeder. I was
kind of joking around, who prays for dog
registration papers, right? The next day,
during yet another phone call to a random
classified ad in the Houston Chronicle
advertising a litter of puppies for sale .... I
gave the standard intro perfected by now with
repetition - "Hello, calling about your German
Shepherd puppies. Did you by any chance have a
litter of puppies back in December 2003
....?", to which everyone had replied, ever so
nicely, "No, it wasn't us".
This particular lady said, "No, I
don't think so, hmmm, that date sounds familiar
... wait let me check ... oh yes I DID have a
litter on that date - what did you say the guy's
name was?" (You see, But when my mother
prays, answers follow). I told the lady again,
and she said, "oh yes, I remember him!"
I nearly fell out of my chair - she was so
nice. After hearing Missile's story she thanked
me for calling, signed Missile over to me
directly, and express mailed the AKC
registration papers to me at her own expense.
She had both Missile's parents at her home —
although not involved in showing, their interest
was to better the breed — good temperament the
main goal.
It seemed a miracle! ... after a
year of searching for the papers against
everyone's advice, we finally got Missile
registered (thanks to Mom's prayer no doubt)!
We signed her up for the first AKC Obedience
trial in the area. Amazingly, thanks to the
internet, another small miracle occurred when we
happened to discover Missile is the 12th great
granddaughter, direct descendent, of, you
guessed it,
RIN TIN TIN!
Some of Missile's other "great
grandparents" include: Iso vom Bergmannshof,
1989 World Sieger and his father Quando Von
Arminius 1987 VA-1; VI Cihara V Bullinger, 1991
Canadian Siegerin; and other SchH3, FH and ROM
dogs -- historical dogs in the world of
Schutzhund. To see Missile's pedigree,
click here -->
Pedigrees.
We registered Missile with the AKC under her new
name --
“Missile
my Miracle”.
 She
is now 80 lbs and 6 years old.
If we tried to list all the miracles that
somehow follow her around, well, this page
is long enough already! She got
a late start, but she won her first title
(CD) in
Obedience in two weeks and her
Rally Novice title (RN) in one weekend. She
loves to show
in AKC Competitions, and she's a
Certified
Therapy Dog. We’re working on her CDX, but
I'm the one who needs the work!
She is a beautiful, loving, smart addition to
our lives. We thank God for "dumping" us with
Missile every day. Rinty would be
proud - what a blessing - her future is bright! Where
are your shades, Miss Miracle?
|
