I got my first dog when I was 17. This dog was truly my dog-he was fully my responsibility in every way. I had, like all pet owners, grand plans and a vision for how our life together would be. We would explore the world together, hang out in parks, have fun. I found Cupid through a newpaper ad. Cupid was supposed to be a labrador mix. Within a short period of time, all of my dreams came crashing down to earth.

1. Cupid turned out to be an akita husky mix. A breed combination that would challenge even an experienced dog owner.

2. Cupid did not live up to his name sake. While he loved people, he could be very dog aggressive.

3. Cupid was powerful, and he knew it. I had little control and our walks in the park were a constant source of public humiliation.

I worked hard training Cupid. After trial and error for several years, I finally discovered techniques that helped Cupid and I work as a team. He became a terrific ambassador for reward based training techniques. He passed the AKC Canine Good Citizen test, became a therapy dog and passed several different therapy dog tests including the rigorous Delta Pet Partners evaluation.

I still wasn’t happy.

While I could control Cupid around other dogs, he still could be edgy in direct dog dog interactions. I always had to be careful with him in population dense environment like Old Town Alexandria. If an off leash dog rushed at him, there would be a problem. Cupid had many amazing qualities, with people of all ages he was bomb proof. He adored me, he was safe with cats.  This wasn’t about Cupid. It was about me, I had wanted a dog who adored all other dogs and Cupid could not be that dog. That was just not who he was.

One day when I was complaining to my father about this, he said to me in Spanish, “you can’t get apples from an orange tree.”  Ok, I thought, I just can’t make Cupid into something he’s not.

So I got more dogs, I got dogs that did love other dogs and others that surprised me by presenting challenges even more difficult than Cupid had posed.  As Cupid aged I started to appreciate him, hey, he had been a pill in many ways but certainly, he had many good qualities.  With time, I learned not only to accept him for who he was, but to actually love him for who he was. His behavior challenges became funny quirks. Cupid lived a full rich life and now that he’s gone, what I would give to have just one more day with him – even if that day included dealing with some of his behavior that had embarrassed me.

Cupid taught me a lot in 15 years. Of course, I learned to accept the reality that apple trees do not produce oranges. Even more importantly, I learned that oranges are delicious too!