Dear Ted & Dawn
This letter is long overdue and it will be long
We want to let you know what a truly amazing addition to our family Yankee has become. Words alone cannot begin to express how we feel about Yankee. He has become a true family member
I was somewhat skeptical about buying a German Shepherd (GSD) that was18 months old, especially because Goldie was raised with GSD's. Goldie's comment to me was "GSD's have one owner". Having bred Rotteweilers, I was concerned to say the least. The last thing you want to do is to invite a very large carnivore into your house, only to find he does not like you or his surroundings! Ted told us from the first conversation that the one owner dog idea was not true. We told Ted what we wanted and what we expected
It is important to note that I wanted a protection dog for Goldie as I traveled frequently, or at least I did at that time. Fortunately for me my travel has decreased and I have much more time for Goldie and Yankee
In the first two months Goldie and Yankee established a bond that was far beyond my expectations. Yankee quickly realized his "job" and he has never swayed from it. I repeatedly told Yankee to watch "mommy" and he quickly learned and knew exactly what to do. It is quite funny for us to watch when a friend or friends come over to our house for an evening. Yankee never leaves Goldie's side, and I mean never. He prefers that the two of us are within ten feet of each other, but if we part, Yankee follows Goldie
There is one downside to having a GSD trained by Ted and Dawn. Yankee absolutely knows his "job" and you have to "teach" your family and friends how to act around a Yankee Dog. While we do not consider it to be a downside, our family and friends did not understand Yankee's behavior during the first meeting. Ted and Dawn's training is totally ingrained within the dog. Once the dog bonds with his owners, which takes a few weeks, he or she is very protective. My mother's first visit to our new home with Yankee as Chief Protection Officer (CPO) was quite amusing to say the least. My Mother and Goldie are quite close and they have a great relationship, unfortunately Yankee did not know that. My Mom made a quick move towards Goldie and Yankee let my Mom know that Goldie was his Mom! Yankee barked and moved in between them. He did not act aggressively as if to bite. He just let everyone know that he was Goldie's protector
We realized that we needed to let visitors know that quick moves towards either of us are off limits until Yankee knows you. Now that Yankee knows my mom, he is the sweetest dog you could possibly imagine. He is also amazing around children. I have two very young nieces and they are quite rough with him, but he could care less. He watches over them like a mother hen. Yankee is the most intelligent dog that I have ever seen. He learns from every angle. We have taught him numerous voice commands and hand signals. The best part is his ability to truly understand how we feel and how he reacts to us. He knows when we are happy and he knows when we do not feel well and he reacts accordingly
I have never seen a dog with so much passion and loving, but yet a dog that will definitely take a bullet to protect his family
Yankee is truly the biggest "teddy bear" any one could ever hope to have, but he is also the fiercest the dog I have ever seen
I could go on and on about Yankee and how much we love him, but I have to stop somewhere
I cannot stop. I just realized that I did not talk about Ted, Dawn or Gatorland. We did an extensive search for protection dogs and an extensive interviewing process. What we found was quite confusing in the beginning. We found that you could buy different breeds with different levels of training all of which was quite confusing. We were totally lost, Level I, Level II, Level III and so on, and of course a price from $2,500-$50,000
We continued our search and talked to many different trainers and breeders. We did this over a three month period and after many phone calls we decided on Gatorland. Ted and Dawn always called us back to answer any questions we had. In this day and age that was very comforting for us. We decided to go to Florida and look at the dogs Ted and Dawn had chosen for us.
It is very important to note that Ted and Dawn asked us as many questions as we asked them. They truly wanted to make sure that the dog would be happy
Obviously, we went to Florida. We were quite surprised with the dogs we interacted with. Ted and Dawn listened to our needs. We had to make a decision and we chose Yankee, strangely enough, Yankee was the dog Ted said that would be perfect for us
The moral of the story is this; when Ted and Dawn talk about dogs, LISTEN! Ted and Dawn, thank you for something more than a dog, thank you for the piece of mind and the best friend we have ever had
Rocky and Goldi
