Hermione

Meet Hermione, my pride and joy. I picked her up from the pound where she was in with a bunch of German Shepherd pups. They were allegedly littermates. Now I seriously doubt it!

Hermione learns tricks easily, would be easier if I was a good trainer but she is my first. She has some pretty obvious herding instincts that come out at the beach and among children. She loves going for bike rides and does much better on the ride than walking, though she is good on the leash in both cases.

She is teaching us a lot, not just about having dogs. She's made my sons more patient and made us all more aware of our feelings. When we get stressed and agitated about something or at each other, she reflects it back to us, forcing us to change our attitudes. Which is amazing because we are an emotional family.