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A Noble Endeavor

 It must be tough to be a dog in a world dominated by humans. So many rules. I'm sure it would be nice to just be able to be a dog and just live out your life on your terms and your conditions without having to worry about your next meal or a bunch of rules. For some dogs, the rules are an easy trade off for getting to live in a house with humans who love you and take you for walks and feed you and give you belly rubs. Noble wasn't in that 'some dogs' category. He was a big, goofy, high-strung, headstrong dog. My wife and daughter came across him at Animal Control and brought him home. The problem with dogs you get from Animal Control or any other kind of animal rescue or shelter, is you will never know their past history or the real, complete story of why they're in need of a home. Noble wasn't quite a year old and he seemed like a well-tempered dog who just needed to learn some manners and household rules. But we will never know his backstory. Maybe he just had a screw loose in his head, but I tend to think he probably had a very rough, traumatic start to life. Not knowing for sure kind of eats at me and makes me wonder if we could've done more if we knew his complete story. But we didn't. We only know that, in the 15 months he was with us, he could be a wild, playful puppy a lot of times, a loving, tender couch companion other times, and a willful aggressive dog other times. He was extremely smart and he quickly mastered all sorts of commands. Sit, down, heal, speak, paw, spin, place. You name it, he could do it. But for as smart as he was, he was also unpredictable. Literally thousands of dollars were spent on training for him (and us). We learned a lot more about dog behavior but I don't think we'll ever know what made Noble act the way he acted sometimes. I do know he was a ray of sunshine for me some days when I desperately needed it. I enjoyed countless long walks with him and our other dog, Ferris. He forced me to get out there and exercise. He made me more responsible and cognizant as a pet owner. He had the most powerful, emotive eyes and when he stared directly into your eyes you could feel his love and admiration.

Noble needed more than we could give him. That's not his fault, it's ours. But I don't think anyone could have or would have given him more chances, more time, and more love than we did. 

I only hope he felt the love from us and can forgive us.

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