Must be karmic

HANCOCK – Young Suzanne Rocket wanted a dog more than anything else in her world, so when her father told her she could have one on her 11th birthday, it was like she could fly to the moon.

And as the airy snowflakes fell that Christmas prior, she opened the first special gift: it was a full color and informative encyclopedia of dog breeds. Now it was her job to research and find the breed she felt was best suited for her, the one she knew she would be best friends with, care for and love with all of her heart.

Suzanne enjoyed that book, along with her five siblings, and finally, after much fun and delving into the wonderful world of dogs, she narrowed it down to three: the Malamute, the Boston Terrier and the German Shepard.

Finally came the big day… after all she was 11 years old now. Her father loaded up her and the family into the car, and off they went to visit a breeder of German Shepherds and a few other breeds.

“I remember it was a beautiful place,” she said.

Upon following her dad and the breeder to the kennel of pups, stood a tree and fallen before it, a dog. He was large and soiled with disheveled clumps of fur over his body, cats climbing all over him. There he lay next to the tree like he had given up.

Little Suzanne immediately connected to him, it was karmic… so she and her brothers ambled over and began to smile and pet him, when came the piercing scream of a frantic woman, “Don’t go near that dog! Get away from that dog!” It was the wife of the breeder.

Suzanne couldn’t possibly understand what all the huff was about, as the dog was friendly and took a liking to her and her brothers, but apparently the dog had bitten his owner and a child, and was sent back to the breeder to soon be euthanized. It was likely the dog may have been abused by its owner and seemed a lost cause.

The next moment Suzanne’s father yelled, “Come on! Let’s so see the puppies!”

Suzanne said, “I already know who I want… I want him,” as she jet out her arm and pointed to the sad-looking German Shepherd tied to the tree.

The breeder ,along with his wife said, “No! You don’t want that dog,” and explained some of its history. “You can have any puppy you want.”

“I don’t want a puppy, I want him,” said Suzanne.

The breeder knew prior to the dog being adopted he was a well-behaved pup, and he felt he was a good dog and it may have been abused by his owner. So he made a deal with 11-year-old Suzanne.

“If you can train the dog in three months,” he said, “you can keep him, and if you can’t, you have to bring him back, and I’ll give you any dog you want, no charge.”

The deal was set. They took the dog home and gave him the regal name “Prince.” In the beginning he was a bit rambunctious and unpredictable.

He chased the cows on her uncle’s farm next door, followed her to school for miles, sniffed her out and showed up in her classroom, causing all kinds of commotion, and her grandmother had to come to the school and pick him up, as he was always quite adamant to stay.

But he sure was intelligent and loved Suzanne unconditionally. They were a pair, and when three months was up, she proved as much as an 11-year-old could she had trained that dog. Prince was hers.

From those first days, Suzanne Rocket’s love of German Shepherds continues on right to the present where, at the reputable Knob Hill Kennels in Hancock upon acres of green rolling hills and a crystal pond, 12 colorful German Shepherds run free, loving life.

Suzanne’s all grown up now, but her love, loyalty, need to rescue, successful training methods and brilliant knowledge of the breed will never change thanks to one karmic dog.

Posted by Janel M. Harrison on November 1, 2012. Filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry