YOU CAN'T FIGHT FATE - WHEN SOMETHING IS MEANT TO BE, WE CAN ONLY LOOK IT SQUARE IN THE EYE AND BE THANKFUL FOR THE BLESSINGS THAT FALL IN OUR LAPS.  My passion is dogs - I enjoy training and helping others train their dogs.  One day a guy called who needed help with his 5 month old German Shepherd puppy.  After a few phone calls, I went to this guy's apartment and found a skinny, wormy, dirty but loveable, female German Shepherd who was bored to death in a tiny apartment while her owner worked 14-15 hours each day.  He wanted me to train her to "stay in the back of his pick-up truck” and “stop tearing up his apartment" while he was away all day.  In other words, he wanted me to work a miracle... 

He had named the puppy "Missile", and she was a handful!  But she was grateful to have attention, good food, worm medicine and a bath, and most of all she enjoyed LEARNING.  She breezed through basic manners the first week, and then we had to send her back to the "apartment". 

A few weeks later he called again, "Can you please train her some more?  I have to work and I don't have time for her."  I agreed and she's back at my house again.  He comes back a week later, pays extra, and takes her home again.  I'm telling friends and family every time she goes back it's breaking my heart.  A few weeks later he called again.  This time, he pays up front for two weeks training, and never came back; wouldn't return phone calls, we've all heard a similar story ... it seemed I may be stuck with the dog. 

Three weeks later, he calls back.  "I'm sorry -- had to leave town - she's good with you - do you want to keep her?"  I offered to keep her (after all the time spent training her of course we bonded with her, and had started to see there was something special in Missile yet couldn't quite put a finger on it…), if he signed her over and I asked if  she had (AKC) papers?  He said, "yeah, before I moved to Atlanta, I bought her in Texas from some lady out in the country about an hour south of Houston.  I think she was born on Dec 10, but I lost the papers and that's all I can remember..."  I agreed to keep Missile if he would find the papers and mail them to me or at least give me the name of the breeder.  He agreed to provide these and needless to say I never heard from him again.

I wasn't looking for another dog, in fact already had three at home - two 15 year old cocker spaniels and a large mixed breed recently rescued from the animal shelter.  But I remembered reading Rin Tin Tin books as a kid - I had always wanted a "Rin Tin Tin" dog.

In a few months, Missile grew into a 65 lb, 9 month old, beautiful girl with a lovely mask and fantastic temperament.  She enjoyed "herding" the two old cocker spaniels and chasing a volleyball in the back yard.  We continued training.  She passed Basic Obedience with ease, and earned her Canine Good Citizen in no time.  I knew I wouldn't be able to show her without AKC papers, and we wanted to  learn more about Conformation.  Obedience club members and friends all advised to spay Missile, apply for a limited registration with the AKC, show her in obedience trials, and forget about ever seeing any papers .  Some said to look for a "better dog" later. 

Little miracles can be hard to recognize.  One day while traveling out of town, I stopped to gas up at a convenience store in the middle of nowhere, late at night.  A shady looking character followed me out of the store on the way back to the car.  I tried to ignore him but I knew he was trouble.   When I reached the car, Missile (who had been laying down in the back seat) simply sat up and stared at the guy.  The "bad guy" did a 180 and walked away in the other direction.

I decided to look for Missile's breeder before I spayed her, knowing it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.  For over a year I sent hundreds of inquiries, emails, and made dozens of phone calls to any German Shepherd breeder, club, organization, etc, in the area we guessed she came from (near Houston, TX).  We live in Atlanta, GA, so had to do all this from long distance.  We called the Houston Public library and ordered back copies of newspaper classified ads around the time Missile might have been 6-8 weeks old.  No luck.  We hit dead end after dead end after dead end.  Friends and club members kept saying “give it up! ...the guy probably lied about the papers”.  “Stop wasting time.”  “Give it up”, they said, and “get a BETTER DOG LATER”. 

We kept searching anyway...  playing detective and hoping against hope might get lucky.  We’re really in love with Missile by now, and want her to have just one litter of pups to keep in the family.  We don't want to breed her irresponsibly, however.

One day I asked my mother if she would say a prayer for us to find Missile's breeder.  I was kind of joking around, who prays for dog registration papers, right?  The next day,  during yet another phone call to a random classified ad in the Houston Chronicle advertising a litter of puppies for sale ....  I gave the standard intro perfected by now with repetition - "Hello,  calling about your German Shepherd puppies.  Did you by any chance have a litter of puppies back in December 2003 ....?", to which everyone had replied, ever so nicely, "No, it wasn't us". 

This particular lady said, "No, I don't think so, hmmm, that date sounds familiar ... wait let me check ... oh yes I DID have a litter on that date - what did you say the guy's name was?"  (You see, But when my mother prays, answers follow).  I told the lady again, and she said, "oh yes, I remember him!"  I nearly fell out of my chair - she was so nice.  After hearing Missile's story she thanked me for calling, signed Missile over to me directly, and express mailed the AKC registration papers to me at her own expense.  She had both Missile's parents at her home — although not involved in showing, their interest was to better the breed —  good temperament the main goal.

It seemed a miracle! ...  after a year of searching for the papers against everyone's advice, we finally got Missile registered (thanks to Mom's prayer no doubt)!  We signed her up for the first AKC Obedience trial in the area.  Amazingly, thanks to the internet, another small miracle occurred when we happened to discover Missile is the 12th great granddaughter, direct descendent, of ...you guessed it ... RIN TIN TIN!

Missile was registered with the AKC under her new name -- "Missile My Miracle". 

She is now 80 lbs and just over 3 years old.  If we tried to list all the miracles that somehow follow her around, well, this page is long enough already!  She got a late start, but she won her first title (CD) in Obedience in two weeks.  She loves to show in AKC Competitions, and she's a Certified Therapy Dog.  We’re working on her CDX.  She is a beautiful, loving, smart addition to our lives.  We thank God for "dumping" us with Missile every day.  Rinty would be proud - what a blessing - her future is bright!  Where are your shades, Miss Miracle?

Sam found his miracle when he was adopted in the knick of time.   He brought miracles to his new home in the form of unconditional love, and now Sam is learning how to deliver miracles to those in need in his new job as a Therapy Dog.

I first saw him at the Humane Society of Hall County on Valentine's Day ... a dreary, rainy, cold Saturday.  He had been at the shelter for two months, just sitting in a cage all alone and due to be euthanized.  When I walked by to look at another dog, "Sam" looked up at me with sad depressed eyes, and then looked away.  No tail wag, no jumping up to greet me, nothing.  I noticed he was scruffy and noble looking, but thought he might be aggressive or too reserved.  I looked at a nice female purebred German Shepherd in the next cage over, took her out for a walk, and she was a nice dog but I didn't really bond with her and my eyes kept drawing back to this dog in the next pen.  But ... I went home without a dog. 

That night I kept thinking about those sad eyes.  I couldn't get to sleep and when I finally did, I dreamed about him and woke up feeling bad with the knowledge he was still sitting all alone and bored in that cage. 

Two days later I went back.  I took my two older Cocker Spaniels to see how they would react to Sam.  The introductions went splendidly even though Sam was twice their size!  When we took Sam out of the cage he was very gentle and I could see relief in his eyes.

The shelter said they had found Sam wandering the streets, lost and scared.  His family, if he had one, had not called looking for him, and no one else had been interested in him.  They said he was their favorite because of his personality.  One of the girls said she thought he looked like a "Sam".  I laughed and said, "How funny ... I dreamed last night his name was Samwise".

I decided to take Sam home for a trial to see if he would fit into our lives .  While completing the paperwork, Mike, who looked after the dogs in the back and had been taking special care with Sam, came up to the front office to say goodbye.  Mike grabbed Sam by the scruff of the neck, hugged him tight, and whispered in his ear, "you see there fella, I told you your day would come." 

Mike told me with tears in his eyes that he had been working hard to protect Sam from euthanization, as they usually don't keep dogs longer than a month, and I had come just in the knick of time.  Mike said he knew this dog was special and he had been praying every day for a miracle that someone would want to take him home before they had to do the "inevitable". 

I told Mike not to worry, I would take care of him and he now has a forever home.  Sam is a WONDERFUL dog, he recently earned his Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog Certification.  Once he trusts you, all he wants to do is crawl in your lap for a hug, and shake hands for a treat.  Anything for a miracle!