We recently adopted another German shorthaired pointer to our home. I say another because GSPs have been in our home and hearts since 1995 when we got our first, Liebchen, which is German for sweetheart. She was such an incredible creature we got her a friend and named her Genie, which is German for genius. She was. Yeagger, German for hunter, joined the family as our goofball who spiced up lives everyday and kept everyone on their toes, especially during thunder storms; he was relentless during those storms because he had thunder terrors.

This trio enriched our lives beyond measure and without exception taught us that life is full of fun. My husband and I tend to be workaholics who move from one project to another. But with the GSPs we took time to play. They insisted. All of us went to any number of dog training classes, spent nights in motel rooms, traveled to vacation and enjoyed each others special skills.

We had three crates in the van so when we were shopping for a ranch, all five of us would go. We stopped for hamburger breaks and potty breaks together. What a group. My husband and I enjoyed these jewels every day they were with us.

Our first boxer came into our lives when we previewed the ranch. We were greeted by a delightful boxer named Gretta. After searching for two years, we had finally found our home with at least 10 acres. At closing the previous owners told us that they couldn’t catch the boxer so we agreed to keep her. Well, it took me about 6 weeks to catch her, with the help of my secret weapon — liverwurst. I’ll always remember the day she chose to be caught. It was truly her choice because she just sat there while I put the rope around her neck. She and I sat on the front porch steps for several minutes then I literally drug her into the house where she laid on the carpet in the foyer for 4 hours before moving. I let her decide when she would move.

Throughout the day I slowly introduced her to our 3 pointers – one at a time. But then again, they had been getting acquainted through a fence for the past 6 weeks; meeting Gretta face-to-face was a non-issue. Her issue was being in a house for the first time.

We moved onto the ranch 12 years ago. Since then these angels have crossed the rainbow bridge and left us with loving memories and enriched souls. Because of them, we have kept our four dog crates in our bedroom where we ALL sleep.

Since we have room for four dogs, we will keep four dogs in our hearts and in our lives.

More about them later … .