We have all learned a lot from him. Our 2 girls — 3 and 6 — our his girls. It is amazing to hear the girls use their “command voice” to tell Hero “no” or “leave it”. He out weighs their total combined weight but he listens. We owe our dog trainer, Valerie Masi, who taught us all how to communicate with Hero and to help us bring out the best in Hero.
When he is home alone with just me, he is pretty mellow. Sometimes I have to travel for work. My wife says she has never felt safer. Before Hero, we had a 85 lb yellow lab and a black lab / pit mix that we lost last year to old age. But Hero is just “hard wired” to protect. He is protective in a good way with my wife and our kids.
When the girls are home, he is both “on guard duty” and in play mode. After our 6 yr old nephew left yesterday after a sleep over, Hero was exhausted and I think happy that he only has 2 girls to chase all day. Boys are more active and more willing to throw a wet tennis ball.
A tennis ball is his favorite toy. So the girls have to share their tennis balls with Hero. Our nieces even save their tennis balls for Hero. It’s amazing how a wet tennis ball dropped on your head or stomach can wake you up in the morning.
February is national Dog Dental month so he just had his teeth cleaned. Next week, our vet wants us to return for a free dog teeth brushing lesson. That will be a new responsibility for the girls. My 3 yr old is very excited about brushing Hero’s teeth.
People are amazed that Hero is a rescue. When we are in the front yard playing, people stop and remark on how beautiful Hero is.
Annie, our 30lb terrier mix rescue, also loves her new buddy. She seems to take great joy in barking just to get Hero awake and wondering what he missed. Hero completely defers to Annie. He is relentless in getting his tennis ball no matter where it rolls except if the tennis ball rolls next to Annie.