This is Zephyr, my 86 lbs Belgian Malinois that I adopted from the program talked about in this article. I am totally devoid of words to express what he is as a "person", to my son, and to me. He is intelligent, loyal, fearless, playful, loving and devoted. Truly he does not have a mean bone in his body and does anything and everything asked of him. He is a bit of work as he demands to play ball 20 minutes a day and needs mental stimulation (search, fetch, climb.. etc) at least twice a week. But even that time is joyful for both of us. He walks with me 4 miles a day without a lead and is never more than a body length from me. He always gets between my son and whomever comes around that he does not know and until told otherwise .. well I would not recommend trying to touch my son. This summer I taught my son to Kayak and Zephyr came along in the front of the canoe. Stephen fell off his boat and before I could even draw a breath Zephyr was in the water, he grabbed Stephen by the vest and swam him to shore... much to my laughter and my son's joy. He has never been trained for it ... he just does it. Like he knows its his job ... which he lives for.
If ANY of you have even thought about getting a dog consider these worthy animals. Rod Sparkovich is the coordinator of the program (a retired fellow recon marine btw.) and his insight into a dog for you is worth gold. The guys in the program love these dogs and want them to have a great home. If interested pm me and I will give you his direct contact information.
