Naco 1/8/1995 - 4/14/2010

It's hard to write about Naco. I loved that dog more than tongue can tell and pen can write. In an earlier post I told the story of how he came into our lives. When I worked for Arizona Game and Fish, some of my duties were law enforcement related. I always took Naco with me- he just looked the part, and he had the best nose of any dog. One time I was checking the licenses of hunters and I stopped to talk to some hunters in a pick up truck. Naco was sitting on the front seat of my work truck. The window of my truck was rolled down, but I had gotten out of the vehicle to talk with the hunters. The next thing I know Naco has jumped out the window of my truck and is sniffing the edge of the hunters truck where the cap meets the bed. The driver seeing this says, "is that a meat detection dog."- Thinking quickly I say, "yes, and he is telling me that you guys aren't telling the whole story of your success." Sure enough Naco had alerted me to an illegally taken deer. I have a lot of stories like that. He made me look good more than once.

I always felt secure with Naco. He was my great protector. He was just so confident, so easy, and I felt he was wise. No matter where we lived, Naco slept next to my side of the bed. He was my dog. I loved to put my arms around him and give him a big hug. I miss him terribly.

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Naco

When I was a child I wanted a German Shepherd. I just loved them, but unfortunately they were getting bad press in those days as “dangerous dogs” and it didn’t help that my parents were not receptive to my desire to have (any) dog. My father rode the city bus to work and I would go meet him at the bus stop and tell him I was his “faithful puppy”. One year for Christmas I got dog dishes and a collar and leash- but no dog to go with them. I begged for a dog for 6 years before the answer was “yes”.

My father decided that if we were going to get a dog, a small poodle might be ok, but I wanted a German Shepherd. My sister wanted a collie. One day while my father and I were ice skating on the pond in the park across the street from where we lived, a sheltie came out onto the ice and followed me around while I skated (and fell). This dog stayed with me, and while I was enjoying the company of the dog I didn’t have, my father was realizing that this “collie in miniature” might be the answer to the family dog.

That is how shelties came into my life- and have stayed. But I still wanted a German Shepherd.

When I got married and had a place of my own, I decided it was time for my shepherd, but having just gotten out of school, I didn’t have any money. I couldn’t afford a well-bred shepherd, and although I looked at “back yard” bred dogs, I could never bring myself to buying a dog I knew was not bred with health in mind.

One February day, around the time of Mike’s birthday, I was looking at the classified when I saw an ad for “well bred mutts”. What!?! (this was before “designer dogs” were the “in-thing”). It turned out that a kennel that bred German Shepherds and Rottweilers had an Opps litter resulting in 13 little oppses. I went to look. I think that if the mother had been the Rottweiler, I would not have fallen for them because all of the puppies were marked just like Rottweilers and they tails were docked, but the mother was the shepherd- and a lovely one at that. So I took one home……… as my husband’s birthday present of course!.................

Naco is the perfect 50/50. His head is not short as a Rottweiler’s, but not as long as shepherd’s, his ears don’t stand up like a shepherds, but are up more than a Rottweiler’s. His body is longer than a Rottweiler’s, but heavier than a shepherd’s. I have dubbed him a German Drover. I just Love Naco. . His birthday is the same day as my sister’s, January 8 and in 2009 he turned 14.

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