After a month of training as a dog handler, I received a German Shepherd named Max. He was a serious three-year-old service dog whod already been through three handlers. Initially, they intended to send him to a security checkpoint, but he ended up being given to a traineeme. For some reason, nobody wanted to keep him, mostly because he was stubborn and didnt always follow orders. There was talk of just leaving him in the kennels and only bringing him out when absolutely necessary, but since my wife and I have plenty of relatives experienced with dogs, we decided we could manage.
In the beginning, when I fed Max, Id use a snow shovel just to slide the bowl into his pen. But as it turns out, a dogs heart can also thaw. And Max melted. A year later, he was a completely different animal. At that time, our youngest son was a year and a half old. One afternoon, we went out into the garden to clear away last autumns debris. Our daughter was off at nursery, so we took the little one along. I remember looking across the lawn and seeing my son tottering through the soggy flowerbeds, while Max trotted faithfully behind him. If the boy stumbled and fell, Max would gently lift him by the back of his coat.
My wife is rather abstemious, but as for me, wellI was just covering for the head of security, who was retiring, and the claret was flowing freely. I ended up manning the post and staying behind to see him off.
It was nearly eleven at night. My wife was out on the porch, trying, unsuccessfully, to ring me. She was worried, thinking I might try to cross the river and stumble into the water in that state. Just as she was about to dash out to rescue me, she saw the gate swing open. In marched Max, towing me by the lead, half-asleep but safely home. Max shepherded me right up onto the porch, and once I collapsed onto the sofa, he sat down beside me, shooting a look at my wife that was so full of irony it could only have come from a dog.
To this day, she teases me about how it was the dog who brought me home. And honestly, I cant say shes wrong.
