Valentino is Six Today

My 110-pound baby.

Valentino is Six Today

We celebrated by going to play with his friend, Raphael, and by trapping a stray dog in the same trap I used to catch his mom on the day before he was born.  I’ve taken his picture every day since he was born, and of the 131,330 pictures on my iPhone, at least 100,000 are of him, probably.  He is very photogenic, and also he doesn’t mind having his picture taken.  He thinks that’s just normal.  The other dogs get annoyed when I take their pictures sometimes, but Tino just expects it.  I won’t make you look at all 100,000 pictures of him, but here are 110 of my favorites.

Tino started training as a search dog at about 5 months old. (He’s only 2.5 months old in the picture above, wearing a borrowed training vest.) I hadn’t planned to start him so young, but he showed a natural talent for it.  He has saved the lives of many dogs, and found the remains of some that did not survive.  Tino and I have searched on islands and high in the mountains, from the Oregon coast to near the Canadian border.  He loves his job, and always wants to get in the car, no matter where we are going.  The links below tell some of the stories of the dogs he has found.

Tino Finds Puppy

Tino Finds Fia.

Tino Finds Pepper.

Tino Searches for Bella.

Tino loves to sing.  He howls at least once a day.  I’ve tried to capture some of his music.  He also loves to swim and fetch and play with dogs.  He is with me every moment of the day, usually, unless Mu and I are conducting a cat search.  He is a magnificent creature, and I feel lucky that I get to share my life with him.  He would not have survived if someone hadn’t called Useless Bay Sanctuary to come and trap his mother, who was running loose in the woods in the mountains, next to the freeway.  However his mother came to be there in the wilderness, no one came looking for her.  She and her baby were unwanted, and now Valentino is dearly loved, and he saves the lives of other dogs who are treasured family members.

Happy Birthday, Tino.