Expectations

Today, a doberman went home with a 19 months kid...Let rewind a bit!

During my shift at the SPCA, a family of three; mother, father and a 19 month old kid asked me to help them find the perfect dog for them. So I automatically looked into all the dogs we have that are recommended for young children but they all had something that didn't quite made it work. We had this perfect border collie which had "kids +++" on her file but the dad didn't feel any chemistry with the dog, but he was interested in a doberman/german sheperd mix called "Ranger".

So we looked at his file and he seemed pretty chill for a doberman so I offered to bring him to a contact room and see how he would react to the child. First I brought the dog in the room with me and the dad (the dogs have a tendancy to get overly excited when they get taken out of their cages and I wanted him to have time to calm down before subjeting him to a 19 months old baby). The dog was super sweet and calm. We brought in the mom and baby and he basically ignored the child, let him pet him and everything.

They went to walk him and I spoke with a dog trainer there to ask for his opinion on that adoption. You see, Dobermans are guard dogs, and so are german sheperds. Which makes them territorial and not really kid friendly. They can get agressive and they are pretty imposing. So the dog trainer came in the room with us when they came back to see Ranger interact with the dog. He gave his green light when he saw how patient the doberman was being with the baby.

So today, a doberman went home with a 19 months old kid. The craziest thing happen when you least expect them. I'm proud that today I helped a family grow in the most unexpected way.