I'd much rather train a dog to do something useful like emotional therapy or search and rescue or something like that.
Yoshi just goofed off too much to be a good show dog, and the breeder just didn't have time to work with him more, so he made the hard decision that he should go to a forever home. It was really hard for the breeder to make that decision and then let him go to me, since he was supposed to be his own dog and part of his breeding stock, so he'd bonded with him, and so did his elderly father. They both came to deliver him to me at the halfway point (he lived close to the Susquehanna River which had flooded terribly that year though his property was on the side of the river that didn't get much damage, but the highway had collapsed from all the water, and his best friend's family on the bad side where the storm and flooding was terrible moved into his house because their own house just floated away right off it's foundation, and they lost everything.
He knew the back roads to come and meet me at the halfway point and to hand Yoshi over to me with his bag of food and some of his toys. Both he and his father were very moist eyed, but he was thrilled that Yoshi was going to someone he knew would love him and care for him all his life which was really important to him... he didn't want him going to some show person that might not have thought he was good enough and sold him on to someone else. When I pulled out with Yoshi peacefully napping in the back seat I noticed in the rear view mirror that he and his father were still sitting in their truck and wiping at their eyes.
Within an hour after getting him home I just watched him check out the downstairs while I lay on the couch (I felt really ill that day), and suddenly I looked at him, and he looked at me and he leaped on top of me wiggling out of his skin with joy and licking me all over the face and in my ears (he still has a thing for ears whether dog or human though my previous Akita had a thing for bosoms). I hugged him to me and bonded with him right then. And he wasn't the dog I had been planning on getting, but he just fell from heaven into my lap, and I knew from just seeing his puppy photo I got that instant gut feeling that we were meant for each other.
The breeder called me the next morning to ask how things were going with him, and I was just crying telling him that I was already in love, and he was soooo happy because thats exactly what he wanted when he made the decision to pass him on to someone else, so he was getting choked up as well.
I still send him updates of how we're doing, and Yoshi's little funny quirks and send photos of him, and he's so excited to know how we're just happy as can be and crazy in love with each other.
And now I have to run and give him a giant hug! Fur babies are the BEST!
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