A few months ago, I thought I would be writing the final chapter in the Gunther saga. Little did I know that Gunther would once again take center stage, but this time ON TV!! If you remember, Gunther had pulled me down the last time I walked him and I busted up my knee pretty bad. Because of this, my husband had agreed that maybe we should find Gunther a new home. I know he didn't want to get rid of him but,he was getting dismayed that Gunther had become so large and powerful, that no one else in the house could walk him except for him. And, Gunther was now so protective of us that he didn't like anyone outside of the house.
This is where the story gets kinda weird. I had written a letter to Steve Harvey about how my wanting to find Gunther a new home and Paul's not wanting to, was causing some stress. However, right after that, things started to shift. I realized that Gunther had no idea of his power and strength and when I looked in his eyes, I could tell how much he loved us. I felt so bad. But, at that point, I still thought it was better if we found him a new family. The search began. There was no shortage of people that wanted to take him. There was even a guy that wanted to drive all the way from Georgia to get him. I thought we had found the right family in downstate Illinois, but each time, it was me that found the reason not to give him up. I told my husband, that maybe we needed to find him a trainer. But, we worried that we wouldn't able to afford the cost of training with a son getting ready for college. Everyday our thoughts switched back and forth about what would be the right thing to do for our family AND for Gunther.
Weeks went by and we still hadn't found the right family. At least not in my eyes. Not that they weren't good people, but we wondered if Gunther would accept the change. He was only used to us and I remembered his vet telling us a while back that Mastiffs get depressed when they think their owners aren't coming back. The thought of that happening to him really was working on me. There is no way he would understand why we had left him. Anyway, around this same time the Steve Harvey Show called us and said our story was interesting that they wanted us on the show with Gunther! WHAT!!!? I mean, I know I wrote in but, I guess I never thought they would actually call us back. Well, they did and we were headed to the show. I was thinking, "Whew, glad we didn't give him up"! Not because of the show, but because maybe they could help us somehow.
The day of the taping came and we were a bundle of nerves, but once we got past traveling with Gunther, getting him in and out of his crate, in and out of elevators and around tons of people wanting to see his massiveness, everything went pretty smooth. The surprise was that we were given a year of training for him. WOW! Prayer answered. A real professional trainer for Gunther. The only thought that popped in my head was, "No way he's leaving us now"! I guess that is why none of those people seemed right. Because they aren't his family. We are! He is still a hulking, slobbering giant that no one can walk but my husband. But, he is also a sweet lovable big baby, that with proper training will be even better. They say things happen for a reason. I guess they do. At least with Gunther they did. Benji the poodle isn't really happy Gunther is sticking around, but he'll get over it.
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