0 Dog Is My Co-Pilot

Today is Big's birthday. Big, for those of you who may not know, is my (now) ten year old German shepherd.

I know what I named this post, but technically, this dog is not my co-pilot, but that's only because he's much too large to fit in the front seat. (he's 130 pounds) Instead, Big rides in the backseat where he takes up all the room and also gets all the blame for destroying the struts in my old car. Twice. Because every time this dog lies down, I'm pretty sure it registers on a Richter scale somewhere.

Not that his size discourages him from attempting to ride in the front seat. Or sit in my lap. We call him our lapdog built for two.

His favorite activities have changed over the years, and now they're pretty much limited to sleeping, eating cookies and cheeseburgers, peeing on trees, and visiting my mother (he loves my mother).

But occasionally, I still make him go to school. At the dogs' last tracking (as in search & rescue) class, a new member of the group (a state police officer) saw Big for the first time and said, "Holy shit! That's a big shepherd."

But he didn't start out that way.

Huh. I feel a slide show coming on...

Big at five weeks

And wouldn't you know...he wins every time.

One year old

Watching over me while I work

Sitting pretty for the camera at agility class

And one last photo...

Tolerating my niece

And that's going to do it for me today. Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to tune in tomorrow when I will...talk about something that starts with the letter E.