Well today’s newsletter has what I feel is a very valuable lesson for all of us, but that will have to wait because I can’t contain my excitement about Graf gras! We had a very long and eventful trip to go get him, and he is stunning! He is gaited with a two beat “trot” as well as a two beat “pace” where same side legs move together it is so cool to watch. Talk about power, this boy is a little heavy, I think he needs to lose 5 pounds, but he is about 100lbs now! Very tall, gentle, calm and confident. He is absolutely gorgeous, you really have to see him in person to believe it, we welcome you out to see him!

Now the lesson. First it is always had to ship dogs because weather on both ends has to cooperate and this time it didn’t. The airlines have already started their heat embargos. The weather in Serbia to send Graf wasn’t okay, so Slobodan was going to have to drive to Frankfurt to get him loaded. Then he was going to have to go to Atlanta and on to SLC. Well Atlanta was too hot, and SLC too cold (we had a late spring freeze) so they would only fly him as far as Denver. Ty and I jumped in the truck to drive to Denver to meet him. I was more than a little upset but still excited to get such a great dog. We arrived early to be on the safe side, his plane would land at 3:45. Well customs took forever and the dog wasn’t released to us until 6:30 PM which meant there was no way to make the 10 hour trip home  that same day.  We drove as far as Grand Junction when I just couldn’t drive any further and we looked for a place to spend the night. The first motel I stopped at told me it would only be $120 for the night, and that was before they knew I had a dog and my son! Needless to say we left and tried to find a quiet place to catch some sleep. Graf had been a great passenger and we were warming up to each other, the ham bribes helped J About 12:21 Graf woke me up with a low growl. I sat up and looked around and couldn’t see anything so asked him to be quiet (though I asked in English and he had no idea what I wanted) I tried to get back to sleep when he started barking. I just sat up and turned on the truck (I had left the key in the ignition) and pulled forward. The golden rule I teach all Search and Rescue people is always . trust your dog even when you are sure they are wrong..  So even though I forget now and then, I just trusted Graf even though he had known us only hours he had been given a “watch” command as we went to sleep. Amazing dog, he stayed alert while we slept so we could have some peace of mind. Well as we were pulling away, there was a shady looking character coming toward my window with his pants down. I have no idea what would have happened or what his intentions were, but I didn’t care, Graf was alert and warned us that he wasn’t comfortable with the situation. I also pause now to think what on earth was that idiot thinking? I have Doberman stickers all over the truck, and had a kennel in the back, what an idiot! He is lucky it wasn’t Zenka with me or I would have opened the door and let her hold him until the police arrived. As it was I just kept driving, and he kept running. The lessons I want to get across in this newsletter are that if you have a Doberman, keep them with you when you can, especially when you need some peace of mind. Second, trust your dogs instincts, anyone who has had a dobe for a while can look back at their dogs first reaction to someone and testify they are a great judge of character, trust them. If your dog is trying to tell you that you are in trouble, don’t waste time trying to figure out what kind of trouble, trust the dog and get out of there. I prefer an alert that lets me get away to a confrontation any day. I am thankful to God and others who have helped me to have such wonderful dogs in my life, who watch over me so I can be at peace. I hope all of you have the same special relationship with your dogs and hope when it counts, that dog will make a difference in the outcome of a potentially dangerous situation.

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