Bandit was born May 16, 2012 on a farm owned by Mennonites just outside Lake Keuka, NY. His sire's name is Mailo 1; mother's official name: Twin Oaks Queen. A full-blood, AKC registered German Shepherd with decent bloodlines. We met August first.
I had been searching for a German Shepherd to purchase after the loss of Bear-the-Wonder-Dog, a nine year old Border Collie/Flat Coat Retriever mix. I was inconsolable. I had lost my job in March and was having trouble finding gainful employment. Also coming out of a rough Winter and suffering from seasonal depression. The loss of Bear was more than I could bear. No pun intended.
The SPCA was the first stop in said search. They had a full-grown male who walked well on a leash and seemed to be somewhat trained. That dog's history is what stopped me from taking him home. His former owner had beaten him unconscious with a baseball bat and he had a bit of brain damage. While my heart went out to the dog, we just didn't 'click'. Fears of him turning and biting one of the granddaughters solidified my decision to walk away. You just never know how an abused animal will react (that dog has since found his 'forever home').
I looked locally and actually 'met' a different German Shepherd named "Thunder". He seemed like a nice enough dog. Good size. Raised with small children and other pets. At ten months Thunder exhibited little signs of training. I moved on.
Searching the Internet provided several potential breeders. Most in the Philadelphia area. Gee whiz. Sure didn't want to drive five hours to an unfamiliar city to pick up a puppy. Then a miracle. An advertisement for puppies only a couple hours away in a familiar area: New York wine country. The finger lakes.
I spoke with the owner and made arrangements to see the puppies. Printed out directions to the farm and set out bright and early the next day. What a day it was. Cloudless blue sky. Very little traffic. Smooth road once the major highway was reached. Good classic rock station on the radio. Zoom, zoom, zoom.
A little over two hours later I was pulling into the drive of a huge farmhouse. Sitting in the laps of two sweet young girls were the pups. One was black with a small white blaze on its chest. One was black and tan. I watched the pups for a while and played with them in the yard. They were your normal, bouncy dogs. Both sweet. Met the momma dog with the classic saddle markings - very Rin Tin Tin.
I chose the black and tan pup because the black pup reminded me too much of Bear. He was also the runt of the litter. Quite a bit smaller than his brother and sister.
On the way home we stopped a couple times for potty breaks. As expected, the puppy puked all over the blankets laid across the back seat. Once back in PA he seemed happy enough. I was prepared to care for him. I didn't expect to fall in love with him. To be honest it wasn't love at first sight. Puppies can be a pain at first. Housebreaking. Training. Cleaning up puke and urine and poop. Getting up in the middle of the night to take him outside. There's a lot of work involved. It took time for us to understand each other.
Who could ever resist a sweet little face like this? Or the sweet, silly personality that goes with it?
Little by little he won my heart.
Now I don't know what I'd do without him.
His name? How did he get his name?
Take a good look at the first photo in this post. Notice the car? A black and gold 1994 TransAm? Classic car. Immaculate. That was the car my love loaned me to drive to Lake Keuka. Now think of the movie "Smokey and the Bandit". I don't smoke, but we sure did see a lot of 'Smokey Bears' on the drive home. Naming him Bandit only seemed natural.
Here's a couple more pictures of Bandit. He's grown a lot over the past eight months. Still cute as a button!
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