I always had a shepherd with my labs and the other dogs. We had to put our last shepherd down because of spinal myelopathy – it was really sad and we hadn't had one in a while. I saw a 9 month old puppy on the website for the Loudoun ASPCA Animal Shelter that someone turned in – a male, purebred and I said, 'Oh my God, I am going to call on that dog tomorrow.' Well interestingly enough, the Virginia German Shepherd Rescue grabbed it and it went to a really good home, but that was what kind of started it. I began to look at the websites and look at all the dogs – daily. And all of a sudden Teddy's picture came through. What it said was – new to Virginia German Shepherd Rescue, but not available for adoption yet. His name was Buddy. So I called and his foster mom's name was Mary Ann and in the first call she told me that they were just getting to know him and that they had pulled him from the Martinsburg, WVA Pound and they only thing we know about him is that he was dropped off with a Chow mix that was really nasty and that "Buddy" was very thin. Mary Ann said to me that she was going to bring the dog to the Pets Smart in Gainesville for a meet and greet and if I wanted to come and see him that he would be there the next Sunday.

So….I am the first one there and I am waiting for her to arrive with Teddy. There was something in the pictures she had posted; there were five pictures and I still have them, plus he was that silver and black that I love and it's not as common as the black and tan so I go to Pets Smart and I just fell in love with him. There was a woman standing next to me and she says to Mary Ann regarding Teddy (whom I am basically following around petting the whole time because I wanted him and I was scared that someone else might adopt him) that her doctor wants her to exercise and start walking and by the way, is he crate trained? So I panicked that this woman is going to get this beautiful, young male dog! I am thinking that this woman has never had a dog before and she is going to pick (an expletive) German Shepherd!

All I was thinking was – really? First-time dog owner? Maybe a lab would be a better choice? Apparently what Mary Ann liked about me was that I kept petting Teddy. I sort of ignored Mary Ann and kept interacting with the dog. Mary Ann noticed that and liked it. So I filled out my very detailed application – where you need so much information (which is kind of like adopting a child) - so I gave her all of my vet references, etc. I passed that and it was then time for Teddy to meet my lab, Nadia. It was important that those two got along. They brought Teddy to the Pet Expo in Chantilly. So we go and there are literally, 10,000 dogs. Nadia and I find the rescue booth. Nadia had never been in a situation like this and she was so good. You should see the pictures of the first meeting.

You can see the whites of Nadia's eyes showing! There were so many dogs there. They got along great. I was able to take them both outside for a walk and that went well. The next step was our home visitation. I was concerned that we didn't have the typical chain-link fenced-in yard. However, this particular rescue didn't mandate that. I did reiterate that if I had a challenge with this dog because he had never been exposed to horses, had never been exposed to cats and they didn't really know how much he had been socialized that I was not a quitter and that if I needed help, I would get help because there was no way I was giving this dog back. So the home visitor came and beforehand I had dredged up all of the pictures of German Shepherds that I had in my past – from when Kendra was a baby – and created an album which I put up on my Facebook page.

The day of the home visit came and I showed the representative every picture of all my past German Shepherds. We had two. One was a rescue and one we had raised from a pup. So she approved the house – and they walk through your whole house! They want to see where the dog is going to be. I am not a crate person; I am not against them, but it's just something I don't use. They insisted on it so I borrowed one from Julie Coles. It was a little small, but I propped it up in my bedroom. We had a challenge getting it up there since it wasn't broken down. It was more of a prop since I wasn't planning on using it unless there was an aggression issue. So Mary Ann came and got out of the car with Teddy and the first thing he did was bark at the horses. Mary Ann was a little panicked and was probably thinking that I would say forget it. It wasn't that at all; I was determined. So they drive off and leave Teddy with me and he was so smart and so easy to train. With the horses I did a lot of leash work and it was just him understanding what they were – he had no idea. I put him on a long training leash. We had one incident where one of the horses took off across the field and Teddy took off after him, but was on the outside of the fence. It scared me to death because I was worried he was going to get hurt. From that time I let him drag the long training leash when I was out with him. Whenever Teddy would show that piqued interest, I would just do a correction by saying, 'no' and I started to walk him everywhere. I would walk him through a neighbor's property because they have the babies and yearlings there and the babies are always really curious and come to the fence. I would correct him as he was walking along the fence. It was so easy and now they can gallop and play right next to him and it's no big deal. Teddy is the happiest doing farm chores. He loves going down to the barn. He knows our routine. He knows when we go down there at night – we close up.

He is super loyal, but he is not one of these German Shepherds that is single minded. He is closest to me, but when I am gone he attaches to Claudia, when Chris comes home – he loves Chris. Teddy is very Labrador in that way. Teddy loves everyone in his family.