I met Lord one evening back in May of 1994, he was just over 3. He was traveling with Beth Lynch at the time. She had recently rescued him and 12 other Hovawarts, a rare breed of dog, from a distressing situation in Florida. I don't know much about that time. (That's Beth's story.) I just know that when I met Lord he was scared of his own shadow. His brown eyes betrayed the worry and fear he carried with him. His face was drawn so tight and his tail tucked between his hind legs, as if glued to his belly. His experience with people had him flighty and scared, his life having been spent mostly in a kennel.

Two months later, near the end of July, Beth called me in a panic. She needed to get Lord from her home because Lord was trying to take advantage of Beth's dog, Ditto. Ditto is another Hovawart and was recovering from hip surgery. Lord finally felt a little secure to want try and move up the ladder Beth showed love to him and started him to think that there may be some good people out there. Lord wanted to love Beth and be her main dog and Ditto was in the way! .....Can't blame him really.

This time the timing was better so I said I would be glad to help and in fact if it worked I would love to keep him. (Beth has a story about this event too, but again it's her story to tell.)

Lord actually started out being my oldest daughter, Amanda's dog. But when school started three weeks later he needed more and I needed him and we needed each other so poor Amanda lost the dog, but tells me she understands and I hope she really does. Amanda does know that he was my best friend for the almost 4 1/2 years that he was in our lives.

It truly took me years to bring this magnificent dog around but I did it. From a tail that took at least 6 months to pry lose using TEAM methods, class work, patience and most of all love to a dog whose whole body was putty in my hands. We learned to play push away and he rolled around and loved it. In the country his tail was always up and curling over his back. The new home we had just moved to had two other happy people and his tail was up even inside now. His whole facial expression had changed over the years. It became soft and relaxed, it showed that he knew about love. It was a long tough road that we both took. Through each other we both learned to love ourselves. We both had the same problem: overcoming a lousy beginning before we could allow our individual beauty to blossom. He was a special animal and we had a truly unique bond....

Unfortunately Lord died over Thanksgiving weekend 1998. Lord was almost 7 1/2 years old when he died but I knew that I gave him the best years of his life and in return I learned for myself the lessons that I was teaching him. I miss you, best friend.