The Story Of Joe

His picture is at the bottom. I have no idea where he is today. His owner passed away last fall. Everyone knew her as Miss Mary. She worked for the park district and knew so much about nature. She taught classes and did workshops and held nature hikes and geological digs. I was privileged to be called by her to teach her 8 month old adopted german shepherd-Joseph. AKA Joe. She lived in a wonderful log cabin in the woods and it was so beautiful there. I trained with her there a couple times and then suggested I bring Joe to classes with me on Sundays. I didn't know what I was in for. He was a terrible rider in the car, all over the small car I had, almost changed gears for me unexpectedly, was in my face and barked and barked. He barked all through my classes and I had to put in back in the back kennels more than a lot of times. He eventually got better. The memory that stands out for me is picking him up the Sunday the hurricane hit Cincinnati. The winds were horrendous, branches flying, trees being uprooted, the power off at the Animal Ark where I trained. We stayed for a few hours to see if anyone from my classes would show up. Taking him home was another matter. All power was out. No traffic lights. Debris everywhere. Miss Mary had a fallen tree in her drive and had to walk up the drive to get him. It was a terrible time for all. Some folks didn't get their power back for weeks. We were lucky and got ours back in a day or so.

I imagine a member of her family took Joe after Miss Mary passed away. She loved that dog so much. She would drive her golf cart and he'd run along side to the creek where he would go swimming. She had a pen built in back for him when she had to leave. He also went inside and had a big crate and lots of bones. He loved to play ball.