It's been a while since i post a journal, my life has been busy, but I am alive I swear, honestly not much has changed, 23-24 has been a roller coaster ride, I lost my dog Max to old age 18, my gecko Clinger 6 and snake Fidget 8 to a broken heater during a cold snap that took out power, and my oscar fish of 11 years Smoky to a failed tank in the span of two weeks with my birthday in the middle, then my Uncle passed away six weeks later in the new year.
My parents seeing me head for a round of deep depression from losing the uncle I was close to and so many of my pets at once, told me to go find a dog, I got to looking and found out the local shelter was having a special pay what you want adoption event, I went in, and found a few, they were adopted out before I got a chance to get them.
Then the tornado outbreak hit, the entire city was in chaos, my area got lucky and only had tree and wind damage, took weeks to clean up the neighborhood.
I decided to try again at the shelter, the first dog I went to look at was a huge mastiff/gsd hybrid, looked like a giant teddy bear, he was adopted before I got a chance to sit with him, the next was a husky/mix, she was a good dog... got adopted right after while I was sitting with a Lab, that had way to much energy for my elderly parents that I rent from.
The last dog for the visit was a 1-year-old? GSD that had been found in the hardest hit part of town, Lue as the shelter named her came in and sat in front of me, i offered my hand to her and she sniffed then put her paw in it, I laughed gave her a treat, and she got up on the bench as I pet her, the staffer that was there was surprised that she did that as she had disliked three other guys that she had been seen by.
needless to say Lue was renamed, as my niece's dog is Lulu, Angel has now been with me for almost a year, she has shown me that some dogs are too smart for their own good, and life has a way of making things interesting.
Angel clearly had some training as she (mostly) follows basic commands, I had to get an E-collar, that I removed the shock feature from as she just needs to hear the beep and she is right at my side, she loves fetch, tug and keep away, she responds to a dog whistle by looking at you and then goes back to what she was doing, I taught her wait, she stops and lets me mess with her leash, wait for traffic, she stops at my side a sits as we wait for the road to clear, Cross, it's safe to cross the street and she goes.
leave it, drop it, and give are works in progress.
It hasn't been all calm seas, she is a digger, I had to line the back yard with blocks, she has a high pray drive (why I got the e collar) and has gotten two rabbits, a 3moles and a garden snake. She escaped the yard a few times, luckily, she came back or was found, and I was called.
She is now my 80lb alarm clock, if it hits 7am and I am not up, she gets on my bed and flops on me.
Over all Angel has become my saving grace, she has brought as much joy into my life as a pet can, I love her almost like a child and she is spoiled by me, I know it wasn't a long gap between her and Max, but she has saved me from the dark path I was headed towards.
I make sure she gets walks and play fetch with her.

Onto other life things, I am looking for a new job, the store I work for has cut my hours to the point I can't afford rent, thankfully I rent from my folks, so not going to be homeless, I am looking at maybe if I can get a better one getting Angel a playmate as she gets so lonely and withdrawn while I am at work, and it was fun having my nephews puppies over as she was being a good cousin and playing with them.

I guess that's it for now.