In June of 2001, Harley was posted on a website for an animal shelter in Georgia that is a kill shelter, As they have no true means of humane animal control in the south, his picture was shown with an expiration date next to it. The expiration date was the unthinkable. A dedicated young woman that we worked with at the time made arrangements to have Harley and seven other puppies flown up from Georgia on United Airlines. All seven other puppies were placed. Many people half-heartedly claimed they would give Harley a home only to back out at the last minute.

At the time, Brett and I were in the midst of dealing with sickness with one of our other "kids". Calle, our beloved black lab mix, had been diagnosed with cancer two months prior. We were so trying to get as much time with her as we possibly could.

Harley, a black lab/chow/doberman mix was simply meant to be part of our family. One day, Brett had enough of everyone bailing out on Harley. He said "We're taking him!" Sadly, by the time we had Harley only (10) months, our two other dogs passed away. Harley quickly gained status as the Alpha male in our home and became aggressive with our other dog, a male Cocker Spaniel named Tug.

That is where Richard Bernhard saved the day. As Harley is now (115) pounds, he had the definate potential to be somewhat dangerous if he were left untrained. After (11) weeks of teaching us and Harley how to cohabitate, Harley is a new dog. He actually welcomes the training and guidance and feels more loved than ever -- you can see it in his happy eyes. We are so happy that we took the time with Richard and Richard took the time with us. He was an absolute Godsend.

For more information on how you can help save a loving and wonderful animal, visit Petfinder.com. The organization that was so instrumental in bringing Harley into our lives was Kindred Spirits in Hampton, NJ.