A few years ago I lived down the street from a guy who had a very large Black Lab.  The dog was a complete annoyance because he barked at anything that walked by.  At the same time, I felt bad for him because he spent most of his day on a short chain in the yard and his only friend was a bucket of water.  Ramsey and I would encounter him on our walk each day as he stretched his chain to the limit.  I was thankful for that chain because it was pretty obvious he wasn’t looking to come over and play.  His bark was mean and his body language was aggressive.

One day in particular, the Lab’s bark seemed to get louder and louder.  Ramsey stopped in her tracks and immediately started to grunt as she tends to do instead of growl or bark.  I looked over and saw this 100 lb. Black Lab coming at us at full steam.  I started to panic.  I quickly unleashed her so that she could run or do whatever she had to do.  My plan was honestly to climb an evergreen tree on the boulevard if necessary!

And I’ll never forget this as long as I live.

Ramsey put herself directly between me and the Lab – as if to say “you have to go through me first”.  She calmly walked several steps ahead and stopped.  I’d never seen the hair on her back stand so high.  I started shifting towards the tree.  The Lab finally reached us and didn’t even think about slowing down as it lunged for Ramsey.  Ramsey crouched down and the dog actually flew over the top of her and tumbled on to the street.  He got up, spun around and jumped on top of her.  I remember thinking that Ramsey was going to die.  This dog was seemingly twice the size of her.  My reaction was to get in there to try and save Ramsey, but the funny thing is, she was in there trying to save ME.   That Lab would have tore my arm off.

The whole incident probably only lasted thirty seconds but it seemed like an eternity.  I was yelling and watching a big ball of dogs roll around on the ground.   All of the sudden there was a loud and continuous yelp.  I thought it came from Ramsey, but all these sounds were new to me and I couldn’t be sure.  It ended as quick as it started.  Ramsey shot over towards me and literally sat on my feet.   I remember how bad my hand was shaking when I was wiping dog slobber off her and looking for blood.  I glanced over and noticed the other dog was in rough shape.  He was slow to get up and he headed towards home bleeding and without the use of his front left leg.

When I realized that Ramsey didn’t have a scratch on her, my panic turned to anger.  Just then, the owner came outside.  He saw his Lab limping toward him and he started yelling at me.  I couldn’t believe it!  Of course I was yelling back.  After about five minutes of chaos I somehow I managed to explain to him that HIS dog attacked MY dog.  In the back of his mind, he must have known the tendencies that dog because he eventually shut up and apologized.

The only reason I didn’t call the police that day is because it was clear the whole time that his dog was after Ramsey and didn’t want anything to do with me.  If he had attacked me, I would’ve felt obligated to call because there were little kids in the neighborhood and it would only be a matter of time before something worse happened.  Thinking back, the dog didn’t bark when I would walk by without Ramsey.   In this case, I didn’t want to punish a dog that was clearly neglected by his owner and never properly trained or socialized.  The authorities would’ve most likely had him euthanized.

I had never seen Ramsey act like that before and I haven’t seen it since.  Some would argue that I simply witnessed the UNPREDICTABLE NATURE of a dog.  I would argue that I experienced the  UNMATCHED LOYALTY of a dog.   One that would protect what it loves at all costs – no matter how many times I’ve yelled at her for barking or told her to go back to sleep when I wasn’t ready to get up.  I think we as humans could learn a thing or two from our ’shadows’.

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Sometimes I even detect a sense of pity in the way people ask. It’s as if they think I’ve made a terrible decision and they want to hear me admit it. The fact is, it’s one of the best choices I’ve ever made and I don’t care if I have to spend the rest of my life defending it.

I’ll never forget my first Doberman encounter. As a kid, I used to ride my bike to the local BMX track every weekend. Directly next door to the track was an auto salvage yard and their mascot happened to be a red, three-legged Doberman. I say mascot, but clearly he was there to protect the property. The salvage yard was his home and it was surrounded by chain link fence. That dog demanded attention for many different reasons, but the most obvious was a missing hind leg.

For a long time, I felt sorry for him. He spent his days and nights with wrecked cars and tow truck drivers. The highlight of his day was meeting people who would come and go from the property and barking at kids on BMX bikes on the opposite side of the fence. But when I look back on it now, he had it pretty good. He lived in the climate-controlled shop and had free reign on several acres of land. Compared to the stories of abuse and neglect in the news these days, that sounds pretty luxurious.

I have such a vivid image of him in my head. It’s as if I saw him yesterday. I remember wondering how a dog with such a disability could be so graceful and so beautiful – more than most dogs with all four legs. I never did get a chance to befriend him. The owner of the salvage yard looked at us kids as a nuisance and that dog simply became accustomed to barking at the bikes going back and forth. But I fell in love with that Doberman from afar due to his sheer beauty and incredible loyalty. Without a doubt, that three-legged Doberman is the reason I have Ramsey. I distinctly remember thinking, I want one of those.

Side Note: A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a Facebook fan page for Ed, the 3 legged Doberman. Ed reminds me so much of the one from my childhood. He actually motivated me to tell this story. I hope everyone will check out Ed’s page and become a fan!

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