We adopted Conrad (not sure what original name was) in May of 2000, he was my birthday present. My other half wasn't sure about it until he saw this 4 month old fairly large pup on my lap snuggling me after I'd taken him outside of the SPCA. He was a wonderful dog whom didn't create too much damage. He only chewed one couch throw and scratched up the inside of our front door, he was a jumper. He started to settle down with the jumping on people around the age of 2 or 3 but he did clear the backyard fence once or twice. Our elderly neighbour was terrified of dogs and even with our assurances from us always kept her distance. One day, after we'd had Conrad for about 10 yrs., our elderly neighbour was very upset when my other half walked by her house. He stopped with Conrad, to ask what was wrong; she then told him that someone had gone into her house (while she was working in her backyard) and stolen her purse. He felt very bad for her when she started to cry and apparently so did Conrad. By this time they were both on her porch with her and Conrad went over to her & put his head on her lap, she let him with no fear. She started to pet him and thanked him for consoling her. This was a very proud moment for us as we were quite pleasantly surprised by this action of our wonderful dog. After that, our neighbour always petted Conrad whenever she was in his presence. It became part of his walk to stop by the neighbour's to see if she was around and get a pet from her. He was a good companion and gave me a sense of security when hubby worked the night shift. He grew to be quite large although his ears never stayed up like a purebred Shepherd. He loved to go for walks and chase his ball in our big backyard. It had to be an Indian rubber ball though as he would destroy a tennis ball. I could go on forever with tons of stories about him but.....Alas, our beloved Conrad had to be put down when he was 12 yrs old; his stomach had twisted. This was devastating for us to make this decision (to say the least) as he was like our child as we have no children. It was in the wee hours of the morning so we couldn't even go to our own vet, whom loved him and he loved her. I am finally able to write all this without crying but it took a very long time. This happened on Sept. 02/12 and it is now June of 2013. I am so grateful that we were able to adopt this wonderful dog from the SPCA as he changed our lives for the better of course and gave us so much happiness. He will always be the BEST DOG EVER and of course I still miss him.
I've just filled out a 'dog adopter survey' with hubby as I think we are both finally ready to care for and welcome a new dog into our lives. One of my friends told me something that just stuck, she said to me "You guys are meant to have a dog". I believe that to be true, dog lovers will always be dog lovers. You can sometimes tell whom are avid dog lovers when you meet people who own dogs. They normally wouldn't speak to you on the street but if there's talk of dogs – be it yours or theirs – a conversation just happens. Dogs are amazing creatures and do wonderful things to/for people. There are even statistics proving that dogs can improve your health – they make you happy and I believe that is good for the soul.....and your heart.
Diana Cromwell
Sadly missing 'The Conrad' (As our vet affectionately named him)
Always in my heart