Meet Lila!

Full Name:  Lila Sunshine.

Breed:  German Shepherd / Labrador Retriever.

Birthday:  December 14th 2008

    Lila is my favorite pet and I have owned her for 6 years now.  Here is the story of how I got her.

I really wanted a dog, eventually my dad gave in and said that I could have a dog so we started talking about what dog we were going to get.  We decided that since so many people were giving away their dogs for free that we wouldn't pay for a dog we would just get a free or abandoned dog.  We also decided that we only wanted a girl dog.  My mom said that boy dogs were gross and none of us wanted a dog that was going to pee everywhere.   Then we talked about age.  We wanted a dog that was still a puppy so we could raise it how we wanted but we didn't want a tiny puppy that would be really high maintenance.  We agreed that 4 months old would be the ideal age. 

    After working out the basics we decided to discuss breeds.  My mom wanted a Lab since she had heard that they were good with kids.  I wanted a German Shepherd, American Pit Bull Terrier, Rottweiler, or really anything big, loyal, and scary looking.  My family said that purebred German Shepherds were too hyper, no Pit Bulls, and Rottweilers were too expensive.  Besides, my mom was pretty set on having a lab but I was interested in something else.

    We never really reached a decision on breed, we were just keeping out eyes open for a good dog.  Two weeks later I spotted an ad worded similarly to this in the newspaper.

   Free 4 mo old female Black Lab German Shepherd mix puppy.

We contacted the owners and ended up picking Lila up the following weekend.

(These pictures are not from when she was a puppy)

   Being a 10 year old first time dog owner of a large breed active puppy is difficult.  I have been her sole caregiver and trainer for her entire life.   We went through the 2 1/2 years of lab puppyhood complete with chewing, pulling, and jumping.  Oh, and this of course was accompanied with the German Shepherd obstinance.  I am lucky that I was young and had lots of time to spend with her.  I have considered getting another puppy, but to take care of one I would need to cancel many things to have the time.  When she finally calmed down she was still stubborn and not very obedient.  Despite my best efforts to train her and my extensive studying I didn't get very far in obedience.  She did very well with on-leash agility from a young age.   In 2012 I joined 4-H with Lila.  My project leader Leisa was an immense help.  Having her show me personally how to handle my dog and enforce my rules turned Lila around into a new dog!  She went from a good dog into an amazing dog.  During our 2012-2013 4-H year she went from an okay dog to winning 1st place showmanship, 1st place rally and 3rd place obedience.  During the 2013-2014 year she won 1st place obedience, 3rd place showmanship, 3rd place agility, and 6th place rally.  I was also awarded overall high point dog exhibitor because of her.  This signified that during the dog show she had the highest amount of points of the 200-300 dogs.