Tales of the Sheprador

 

The biggest criticism that I have of blogs in general and mine in particular is that there is not nearly enough dog content.  Today I am here to do something about that.

ICYMI Stepdog passed away in November after a mercifully brief battle with cancer.  When I wrote about it I said that I would come back later and tell the story of everything that came before.  This is the promised happy post about this wonderful dog's long and healthy life.  

Her backstory.  How she went from being my husband's ex-wife's dog to my stepdog.  What she meant to each member of the family.  A Day in the Life Pre-Pandemic Edition and a Day in the Life Pandemic and Beyond Edition.  Her many nicknames.  A bunch of random dog stories, lots of pictures, and some Sheprador Poetry.  Her Dog Ambassadorship which led to many of our friends and family adopting dogs. 

7 Things About a Sheprador

 

Today is National Dog Day so I'd like to take a moment to pay tribute to my stepdog.  Neither my husband nor I ever planned to be dog owners, but a few years after the divorce my stepsons' mom got a dog "for the kids" and after a while it became clear that both the kids and the dog were happiest when they were under the same roof so...that was our path to dog ownership.  And hey, all of the adults involved are very happy with this arrangement as well.

I had always accepted the story that my stepsons were told, which was that once upon a time a German Shepherd met a Black Lab and they Loved Each Other Very Much, but recently we learned that there is an official name for this kind of dog: a Sheprador.  Intrigued, I did a little research, by which I mean that I read the first hit that google brought up: 7 Things You Need to Know Before Buying a German Shepherd & Lab Mix (A.K.A. Sheprador).  The first thing on the list made me giggle, so I felt that I needed to write a response to the 7 things.