My favorite pet...that I rescued

Audi’s Story

After our mixed shepherd died, leaving a big hole in our hearts, I started looking for another dog on the Internet. I saw a picture of Audi, a German Shepherd, on the H.B. Humane Society’s website. Late on a Friday afternoon we took a trip to visit her. She was located in a cage that faced all incoming visitors. As we walked toward her cage, she started jumping up enthusiastically, all 80 pounds of her. We thought she was beautiful, but we had planned to visit the Pet Fair in Costa Mesa the next day to check out the available dogs there too.

At the Fair we looked at several shepherd mixes and walked a couple of them, but they seemed to have no enthusiasm, so we rushed back to the Humane Society before it closed for the day. As soon as we walked through the door Audi seemed to recognize us and was so excited to see us again. She seemed to be smiling and saying, “take me, take me!” It was too late in the afternoon to take her out for a walk so we decided to come back early the next morning.

At two years old, Audi was exuberant and curious about everything. We had been warned not to take her near cars or other dogs. Sure enough, as we walked by parked cars, she wanted to jump up on them. My husband squatted down to pet her and she bowled him over onto his back like a dead bug. She was powerful! Now we had an idea of why she had been returned to shelter after the previous owner had only kept her three months. The girls at the shelter thought that possibly she was too much dog for us older folks and suggested we might do better with an older dog. But, having suffered the death of our 13 year old dog, we wanted one that would hopefully have a longer lifespan. So we chose Audi.

After finishing the paperwork, she could hardly wait for us to open the door to the van so she could jump right in. At our house, she seemed to know where our old dog had slept and just took her place. She was housebroken and very good in the house. However, she was not leash trained and she pulled us along with her. She just went crazy if she saw another dog or other animal.

We always take our dogs camping so decided to take her out for just one night to see how she’d behave in the camper. Again, she was great inside the camper and knew just where she was supposed to sleep. We decided to take her for a walk around the campground. As we were walking along and talking, Audi spotted a cat chasing a rabbit and she took off, dragging my husband behind her. Instead of letting her go, he held on trying to keep up with her, but he fell, knocking the breath out of him. His glasses cut into his nose and above his eye, blood was running down his face. Audi continued on the chase and he told me, “I’m ok, go catch her!” Thankfully, another camper caught her. He asked if he should call the ranger for first aid, but we thought we could patch him up in the camper.

My husband drove the camper home with some soreness on his side which got worse as the day progressed. He finally decided to see the doctor and it turned out he had three broken ribs!

After that experience, we decided we needed help training her. We hired a trainer who broke her of going crazy when she saw other dogs and animals. He still warned us that she didn’t like other dogs and to keep her away from them. We gradually introduced her to our daughter’s two dogs and they get along fine. She seems to want to play with other dogs too but, unfortunately, since she’s so big and strong, we’re still a little afraid to let her loose with them.

We’ve had her two years now and she still acts like a puppy. She loves all people and greets them enthusiastically. She is a gentle giant with little children. I don’t think she has a mean bone in her body. My husband is the love of her life and she follows him everywhere. Audi has brought so much fun and laughter into our lives. She completes our family.