I was never a dog lover–never wanted one, never liked any dogs and truly was afraid of most dogs since age five when I was bit by one. Years later, in my forties, a dog showed up at our house early one morning. Not knowing where this dog was from , I was reluctant to touch it or have anything to do it. My wife, Theresa, an animal lover, called around to our neighbors but nobody knew anything about this stray. She put the dog in her car and drove it to some other neighbors but again, nobody knew anything. There was no identification, no tag, no phone number on this dog.

We decided to get some food and water, let the dog stay in our garage away from a burning sun and went off to work. I do not know what this dog did for the ten hours I was away, but I will never forget the look in his eyes when I left him that morning. I knew he would be there and I knew he was staying with us. I did get home later than usual for a Friday, and he came running to me. I was a little uneasy with him, but fortunately a dog officer showed up and we collared him. He taught me to handle the dog and in a few minutes I was walking him around my property. Shortly thereafter my wife arrived home and we knew we had a new family member.

We introduced him to our cats who greeted him suspiciously at first but then grudgingly accepted him. He never threatened them in any way. Unsure of what we had, I did bring him to vet who determined he was most likely a lab/pit bull mix mayber 3-4 yrs old. My wife began taking him to work with her as she did not want him alone with her cats. Soon she decided on the name “Shadow” and he has been just awesome. My wish is that I could work from home and be with him all day. He is a great friend.

Michael from NY