I got talked/persuaded into taking this punk a year ago. It's been a CRAZY ride!!!

I love german shepherds but did not want one, however, after Berry died I was falling into a depression slump not having a dog to keep me active and I was starting to get desperate because all the rescues I applied to get a dog from had really high standards that I didn't meet (I understand why, but it's frustrating), and I couldn't get a dog from a breeder for similar reasons (I live in a trailer, which automatically disqualified me for several breeders/rescues)

My friend met this dog at the vet and talked to his owner, found out he was being fostered and looking for a new home. My friend was convinced that I NEEDED this dog

I wasn't initially interested but after my struggle to find a new dog, thinking it over for several weeks, and being encouraged into it by several people, I decided to give him a trial run

I thought if it didn't work out i could simply give him back to his foster owner. At the time, I had my doubts that I was actually going to keep him

However, things took a crazy turn when I found out that by "foster", the woman who had him actually meant keeping him in a yard full of unsupervised dogs 24 hours a day, letting him be feral and doing what ever he wanted, and letting him piss and shit indoors on the rare times she did let him inside. The woman was also unhinged and had threatened people with a gun at one point when they tried to get a dog back from her that they were letting her foster (a different dog btw). LOL. Typical rural Alaskan shenanigans;) It was jarring

I named the dog Dante

A few weeks after I got him, I took him to the vet and found out he had parasites and FOUR ear infections (2 in each ear). The parasites were the reason he was severely underweight

I did not have enough money to treat all these problems but my friend who got me Dante paid for the vet bills 🙏

A month later, Dante was doing so much better, but was starting to develop severe reactivity and could not walk good on a leash. I'm small and disabled so I could not control him. It was EXTREMELY upsetting and I cried multiple times. I loved Berry, he was my "Soul Dog", BUT he was extremely nervous and reactive and was a bite risk. So this was my chance to get a better behaved dog who didn't stress me out, and Dante was BLOWING IT

I was also having a hard time bonding with him. I liked him, but he did not feel like *my* dog and he did not seem attached to me what so ever

But I could not in good consciousness take him back to the crazy lady I got him from.

I tried extra hard to rehome him to a good qualified person, but could not find one. I even found a dog trainer who had trained Dante in the past. She works with shepherds specifically and had connections and she tried to help me rehome him but even she couldn't find him a home

While I was frustrated at this stupid dog i had been stuck with, a dog I didn't fully want in the first place, i noticed a sad trend... lots of shelters and rescues were out of room. There were tons of dogs, especially german shepherds, being rehomed and brought to the pound, for stupid reasons. A lot of the reasons were just typical shepherd behavior that needed training

I suddenly felt very sad, and angry at the people for getting german shepherds and then dumping them as soon as they became an inconvenience. Sometimes, rehoming a dog is necessary and valid... but these just seemed like people who got a GSD without doing any research and were severely unprepared for the reality of having a dog like that

So from then on, I changed my perspective and decided to keep Dante and put in the work and effort

I later found out I am dante's 5th home... and he was only 2 when I got him... he hadn't had any consistency or stability in his life, which explains why it took so much longer for him to settle in to my home and bond with me. He probably just assumed he was passing through. He finally started to fit in and bond with me and my family after about 6 or so months, twice as long as the average predicted 3 months

I've had him for a year last month. Its been a long crazy journey. He is still extremely annoying sometimes and still a bit reactive (he barks alot, even for a shepherd, which is saying something). I have learned that he is not aggressive at all, just barks a lot, and it scares people. Ironic because Berry was actually potentially dangerous but no one batted an eye since he was a sled dog

But over all, Dante is doing SOOOOOO much better and has made miles and miles of progress since when I first got him. He's not perfect and still embarrasses me once in a while but he is much more manageable and behaves well most days

He is also the product of backyard breeding, but i had health testing done and he is actually very genetically healthy. Which is a huge relief

Anyway idk why I'm sharing this on FA, I've tried to stop sharing pet stuff on here cuz it seems kinda weird but I couldn't resist

Pictured is me with Dante the day i got him, and us on the same beach a year later.

He's a great dog! Love himbs