Alpha The Perfect Dog I Didn't See Coming

I adopted Alpha from a Facebook post almost two years ago. He was advertised as a Great Pyrenees and Husky mix and an emotional support dog. I had a DNA test run on him, and he was 72% Siberian Husky, 11% Malamute, 11% Samoyed, 4% German Shepard and 1% wolf. I had the test done done because he was a giant dog at 90 pounds.

Our initial start was rocky to say the least. His original background was he was adopted from an AZ SPCA by a guy in the Army. When he was reassigned to Alaska, he gave Alpha to his mother in North Carolina. She had him for two years, but decided that she could no longer care for him because he didn't get along with her small dog, so she put him up for adoption.

That's where I entered the picture. I went for a meet and greet at a friend's house 10 miles from mine (she arranged it) and met Alpha. He did OK with her dogs, and I decided to adopt him on the spot. I brought him home and initially everything went well with our other dogs.

However, soon after that my Border Collie, Sumter, and Alpha began tangling on a regular basis. Alpha was just that, an Alpha, but he didn't know how to be one! Alpha was also in pain! Due to lack of exercise and being crated all of the time, he would literally scream when he would try to get up off of the floor. We started him on glucosamine and he began playing with the small dogs in the back yard.

Two months later, he was a different dog. His relationship with my Border Collie began to improve when I started to take them on nightly walks together!

Alpha began to show his personality with me! I had lost my Samoyed five years before and it had taken me that long to adopt another dog. He would come to me when I was feeling down and wrap around my feet and say everything is okay. I think he rescued me!

Michael Atkins
HICKORY, NC