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Three Wolves In Snow, your heartfelt post brought tears to my eyes...I'm still crying. I had a similar "love thang" with my Boston Terrier Zayda...for 13 beautiful years. I still miss her like crazy. After losing 5 dogs in years, I thought I'd. not have another but I do and he's attached to me...Harry is a retired show dog and just kind of fell into my life. He's always where I am, has to have me in his eyesight. I say we do have a "love thang" going on.
I just love it...how we love our dogs, how they affect our lives so deeply.
Thanks for your wonderful post and I hope the OP was touched by your words.
It has been just over a year since I got Keir from the pound.
Most of the first year, I just babied him. I worked on recall in the early hours of the morning around the complex, like I explained before, but other than that, I haven't worked on 'training'. We've just bonded.
And you know what?
That works better than training.
The ultimate goal is to have your dog WANT to do what you want him/her to do simply because he/she wants to. And that's where we are.
I never taught him to 'stop'. I never worked on 'sit' beyond a few times in the beginning, realizing he knew it, just didn't want to do it at first. I didn't train him to 'follow'. I didn't train a whole host of things that he just does now because he wants to be doing what I want him to do, and he just seems to know what I want him to do without me asking or telling.
We left NC, and we traveled for quite some time, and I believe that helped with the bonding. We grew very close during that time, and he seems to know exactly what I want, what I need, and his boundaries. He also knows his freedoms, and he, just like Sakari, has a massive sense of humor. And he, just like Sakari, tries to make me laugh all the time.
When Sakari made me laugh, she'd roll on her side and spin around and act like a goof. When Keir makes me laugh, he paws at me, repeatedly, and then shoves his face on me.
I never thought another dog could ever come close to filling Sakari's dog boots, but Keir is EXACTLY the dog to do it.
Sakari will always have a special place. She was my first BC. I had her from puppyhood. She was ridiculously intelligent, hilarous, and very special. It's no fun to eat bananas anymore without her there, staring at it intently as I unpeel it, shaking so slightly as if she can't stand to wait another second for her bite from that banana...there's many things like that which are only Sakarisms.
Keir has his own Keirisms, but again, he and Sakari have a LOT of similarities. Keir allows hugs, in fact, he insists hugs. He is crazy affectionate. He gets clingy now because we spent so much time traveling together, and he does not like being away from me for even a minute.
He has made some dog friends that have been good for him, and he is now able to meet stranger dogs and not yell at everyone.
We went to a beach along the Atlantic Ocean. He had never seen the ocean. Despite signs saying 'no dogs allowed on the beach', every tourist had their dogs on the beach. Well, this was a great opportunity to test things out.
He did brilliantly.
He had a blast and didn't act like a jerk, no matter the make or size of the other dog. He even handled more than 1 dog at a time and didn't yell. He ran and played and played and ran, so I didn't feel bad at all for breaking the rules that everyone was ignoring.
I pretty much treated him, over the last year, the same way as I did from the day I picked him up at the pound. He wasn't just 'on his best behavior', when he was fresh out of the pound, that IS his behavior, all the time.
Sometimes, I think, 'What if...'
What if I had somehow still got Keir while Sakari was alive....can you imagine? Twice the manipulation, twice the hilarity, twice the affection...I think my heart would have exploded.
She will ALWAYS be my heart dog...but he's going to be one, too.
O-Ho! Well, SOME people would argue that point, but I do agree, in principle! LOVELY thought, for SURE! AMOF, that thot deserves a virtual hug and high five. Or, just a "chapeau" if that is more to your taste!
Congratulations on your new pup. Enjoyed your story and love his name - great idea!
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So happy for you and Keir. 
Cool!
