About Nature Versus Nurture . . . A Lesson For All Of Us

ANNE & I ARE OVERWHELMED WITH YOUR CONDOLENCES:

As You Know . . . On September 29, 2023, Anne & I Ended The Life Of Our Magnificent Tavor.

Our Home Has Not Felt this Empty since the Day Stryker Left-Us Almost Three Years Ago. And if I was to Tell you that My Heart Isn’t Broken to the Core, I Would Be Lying To You Through My Teeth.

Yesterday . . . With Rake & Shovel, I Smoothed Over the Area that is Now Tavor’s Final Resting Place. It was Several Hours of Hard Work in the Sun & Heat to Move all the Weeds, Rocks & Clumps of Earth. But In The Long Run – And Between Tears, It Was Cathartic.

TAVOR DESERVED NO LESS THAN THE RESPECT OF ALL MY EFFORTS:

It Is Indeed A Great Tribute To Our Late German Shepherd Dog Tavor, that So Many People, by the Hundreds, Many of Whom could Only Relate to Tavor by Photos & Stories, which Anne & I Posted over the Past 2 1/2 Years . . . Anne On Facebook, Myself On Galganov.com.

Your Condolences Have Given Anne & Myself Great Comfort . . . Thank You For That.

IT IS NEITHER PRODUCTIVE NOR HEALTHY TO DWELL ON THE PAST:

We Can’t Bring Tavor Back. And We Will Not Be Without Another Dog. So as I wrote in my Last Editorial, we will Buy Another Dog Without Delay. And that is What We Attempted to Do on Saturday . . . September 30, 2023. But Not All Things Work-Out As Planned.

We Went To A German Shepherd Breeder About An Hour’s Drive From Us. And Before Making the Appointment with the Breeder, I Asked if she would Mind if we Brought Larry, the Magnificent Dog Trainer who Trained our Last Three Dogs, Including Tavor.

As I Had Written Before About Larry . . . Larry is a Retired American/Canadian with More Experience & Expertise in Assessing & Training German Shepherd Dogs than Anyone Else I Can Imagine, Especially with his Bona-Fides of Training German Shepherd Dogs for the US Military & American Police Departments.

Anne & I Cajoled Larry Into Coming Out Of Retirement To Help Us With Tavor, which He Did. But Even with Larry’s Incredible Expertise, Larry Made it Clear to us that Tavor was an Incredible Dog, Exceptionally Smart, 100% Devoted to Anne & Myself . . . BUT – We Had To Think Of Tavor “As A Hand Grenade With The Pin Half Pulled”, who will Never Be a Pet, will Always be Dangerous & Could Never be Brought Near People.

We Visited This Kennel & For Multiple Reasons . . . Our Answer To This Puppy Was No.

But Not To Be Deterred . . . And Not to Rush Into Buying the First “Acceptable” German Shepherd Puppy, we Focused on Breeders we Might be Able to Trust.

Then . . . Low & Behold.

A Good Friend Of Ours From Tennessee – Frank, who we First Met, Along with his Wife Karen, in Hill Country just Outside Austin Texas About 5-Years Ago, and then Spent the Following Summer Together in Texas with Anne, Stryker & Me . . . Called to Express His & His Wife’s Sadness at Our News, Especially since they Loved Stryker & Really Appreciated the Stories & Photos of Tavor . . .

Then Bells Started To Ring In My Head.

Frank – Who Comes From A Big Southern Family Of Down-Home Country Folk, Spanning States Like Georgia, Florida, West Virginiana, Pennsylvania & Tennessee . . . Told Anne & Myself some 5-Years Ago, while Frank & Karen Made their Usual Big Fuss Over Stryker, that Frank Had a Cousin who Bred Some of the Best European West German Shepherd Dogs Anywhere.

So Anne & I Called Frank’s Cousin, who Lives Near the State-Line Dividing West Virginia/Pennsylvania to See What they Might Have to Offer. And to our Great Surprise, they Knew all About Stryker from Frank & Karen, and Somewhat About Anne & Myself . . . It Was Almost As If By Extension, We Were Kin To Them As Well.

FLY-OVER PEOPLE ARE IN A SPECIAL POSITIVE CLASS ALL BY THEMSELVES:

We Spoke With Frank’s Cousin Christina At Great Length, About all things German Shepherd, to Life-Style and our Mutual Personal Philosophies. It wasn’t the First Time Frank Introduced Me to His Family, Who Never Disappointed Me With Their Generous Welcome, Kindness & Inclusion.

You Know How Sometimes You Meet Someone & It’s As If You Knew Him Or Her Your Whole Life.

THE PUP HASN’T BEEN BORN YET . . . BUT THE DEAL IS ALREADY DONE:

By The End Of October . . . Anne & I Will Veer-Off our Route to Myrtle Beach & Stop-Off at Vom Goodchris German Shepherd Breeders, where We will Meet with the Owners & Seal the Deal. The Two Breeding Shepherds, Both of Whom they Own, Haven’t Bred Yet. And Neither Has Another of their German Shepherd Dogs (Black), which is Insurance if the First Breeding Doesn’t Take.

But If It All Works-Out, the Mom Will Give Birth to Her Litter in a Few Months, which will be Available for Adoption by February (8-Weeks), When Anne & I Will Drive the 500-Miles from Myrtle Beach to their Kennel & Back Again (To Myrtle Beach) with our New German Shepherd Puppy-Dog.

In Case You’re Curious . . . Anne & Have Complete Trust in Frank’s Integrity & Judgment . . . And from Whom we’ve Met in Frank’s Family, We Can Say the Same About Frank’s Kin. But Nonetheless, Anne & I Did Some Serious Due Diligence About the Quality of the Pedigree of the German Shepherd Dogs of . . . Vom Goodchris German Shepherds . . . And We Came-Away Smiling.

The Deal Is Simple . . . We Agreed To Price, Pick Of The Litter & A Male German Shepherd Dog.

NOTHING WILL EVER REPLACE THE WONDERFUL DOGS WE’VE HAD & LOST:

We All Need Something Or Someone To Look-Forward-To . . . And Misery Shouldn’t be a Companion to Look Forward-To. But A New Puppy-Is.

We Woke this Morning Feeling No Better Today than we Did Yesterday, Nor the Day Before. But at Least we Woke Today with Something Good to Look Forward-To, which will Definitely Help to Soften the Blow and Give-Us Some Positive Purpose for the Future.

That Puppy Hasn’t Been Conceived Yet . . .

AND HAS NO IDEA OF ALL THAT IS ALREADY UPON HIS SHOULDERS:

Life Carries-On & Time Waits For No-One . . . Even In Grief.

Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov