An animal control officer first spotted Spirit in a field in St. Louis City in April 2006. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to catch her until late October. By that time she was seriously underweight, malnourished, pregnant and afraid of people. She was less than a year old. I adopted her on November 7th with the intention of fostering her until a good home could be found. Spirit had a difficult time recovering from spay surgery. She was weak, had no appetite and was worm and flea infested. It took three baths just to remove the top layer of filth from her coat. For the first week I had to carry her to take her outside. In late November she contracted an upper respiratory infection but by mid-December she was well on her way to recovery in spite of developing a case of sarcoptic mange. By January she had gained a total of 12 pounds and went from a quiet and sedate young lady to a loud, boisterous 44 pound puppy only too willing to let her many needs be known. I alternated between wondering what I had gotten myself into and wondering who in the world would want to adopt such a energetic, brilliant and bossy young malgal! Well, somewhere between the nose pokes, grunting, barking and nipping I realized that had fallen in love with her and couldn't imagine her ever leaving. 

Spirit and I would like to extend a warm thank you to the following people. Monica Bamford for first identifying Spirit at the shelter and notifying the Belgian Shepherd community. Without Monica, Spirit would never have made it out of the shelter alive. Marcia Tokson, Rescue Coordinator forAmerican Belgian Malinois Club Rescue for her support. Dr. Ava Frick of the Animal Fitness Center for donating many of her services.  And finally our very good friend Deb Frank for her help and generosity from the very beginning. Deb was with me when I adopted Spirit and has been there every step of the way since. Thanks Deb. You're the best! On a side note, Spirit and I will be attending Foundation Agility classes at Deb's Laughing Wolf Agility Academy.  I'm really looking forward to introducing Spirit to agility.