Cookie's Birthday Tribute (complete with photos)

(Cookie's birthday is tommorow, March 2nd. I wrote this for her birthday and decided to put it on here tonight as I may not be on for long tomorrow. I'm going to be spending extra time with Cookie.
The first and last pictures are recent. The others are from a couple of years ago.)





Eleven years ago today, a little puppy was born. That puppy was my endlessly faithful German Shepherd, Cookie. I don't know much about her first 6 months of life, but I do that she was bought from her breeder by a family who, so I was told, kept her in the backyard with their other German Shepherd.
I was told that they had planned to breed her, but their other dog bullied her and stole her food, so they decided to sell her for fifty dollars.

My step-dad, who was then not yet my step-dad, was looking for a guard dog, so he bought her. Cookie was very thin and afraid of him to the extent that she urinated on the floor every time she saw him. At first, she wouldn't even bark when strangers came up to the house, so my dad had to teach her to act as a watch-dog.





I first met Cookie when she was three and I eight. She was friendly, but aloof, and tried to back away from me a bit as I petted her. Over time, she grew to love me. At the time, my grandmother (my step-dad's mom) was caring for her. Cookie loved my grandma so much that she followed her almost everywhere. Cookie soon began to follow me around too.

While my grandma did a pretty nice job, she couldn't exercise or brush Cookie as much as she needed. Cookie was also untrained, except for coming when called. I started to teach her tricks when I was 10 years old. Her first trick was shake and it took her two weeks to learn it. Probably because I did not know to use treats to reward her obedience. Other commands I taught her included wait (a form of stay,which had to be re-taught later on due to being out of use), sit, and lay down.

A few years later, my grandma placed Cookie under my care since she was getting older and had a harder time caring for her. At first, I had to be constantly reminded to change her water, to feed her, and to brush her. But I got better over time.


It was around this time that I got educated about teaching basic obedience. Before, I had thought that tricks like sit were only for fun. I taught Cookie basic obedience, and began working on her dog-aggression. (She hadn't been socialized very well with other dogs (or people for that matter), and her living her first 6 months of life with an agressive dog did not help).


Ever since I've known her, she's given me nothing but love and devotion and asks nothing in return but attention, food, water, and shelter. She'd do almost anything for me. And I her. We've been through thick and thin together. Joy and sorrow.

So, on my special girl's eleventh birthday, I'd like to give back a portion of the eternal loyalty she has had for me over the years. Happy Birthday, Cookie! May your nobel self live to see many more happy years.