Myths about adopting a rescue dog...

Samson remains a work in progress. Each day he is a little better behaved than yesterday. For those of you following this blog and a closely related one, we adopted Samson in early November. Those first few weeks with him were quite a challenge as he was essentially feral. Samson had been abandoned by his owners and was found wandering the streets in downtown Grand Rapids. There are a lot of myths out there regarding the adoption of "rescue dogs," as you can read if you click on this link. However, there is one I want to highlight in this post:

Myth 9: I'm unsure about getting a rescue dog. I am afraid he won't bond to me.

As you can see by these pictures, Samson has indeed bonded with both me and Deirdre. Samson shows his intelligence to us each day, listening to our commands and doing what we tell him to do. He has come to the point where Dee and I need to spell certain words like "w-a-l-k" or "p-u-p-p-y t-r-e-a-t" or "d-i-n-n-e-r." He is also developing a very sweet and loving personality. He will plop himself down right in the middle of us and observe whatever we are doing. One of his favorite things to do is to take a spot in the kitchen when we are preparing dinner and wait for something to fall off the counter. Samson seems to love most everything we make, but one treat he really likes are green beans. Yes, those green beans. See the photo to the right for an example of him establishing his presence in our kitchen and patiently wait for a snitch of green beans.

We are frequently reminded of our precious dog, Allie, in some of the things that Samson does. It is clear to even the most casual observer that there are certain traits common to all German Shepherd Dogs. Like Allie, Samson likes to look out at the backyard and chase any creature that happens to wanted into its confines. He also likes to herd us when we are walking around the house, as if we do not know where we need to go and he needs to guide is from one room to another. Much like Allie, Samson enjoys his sleep and in particular he likes sleeping on our Stearns & Foster bed. Again, much like Allie, Samson prefers to take his half of the bed right out of the middle of the bed.

People might tell you that rescue dog will not bond with you. Deirdre and I beg to differ!