Fenrir has joined the party 🖤 (Patreon)

Hi patronites! I spent the last few days traveling 🥺 It was a journey, but very worth it! 😭

You’re probably already seeing the photos, so let me make it official 😌

May I introduce you to my new companion: Fenrir 🐺

But before I talk about Fen, I need to open my heart… cuz you know me 😂

Long read ahead! 🤓

For a long time, I truly believed I would never want another dog in my life. It felt like Lia had completed that “quest” for me, like that chapter was closed forever, and the bond we had was so deep that I couldn’t imagine opening that space again without feeling like I was betraying something sacred.

But with time, I started to understand something about myself. Part of my role in this world is to build bonds with dogs, to walk alongside them, to grow with them, to guide them and to let them shape who I become. To me, this doesn’t feel like closing one story and starting another, it feels like the same story moving forward, not as a replacement, but as something that has always existed inside me and is now taking shape again…

So slowly, I started to accept that this “will” didn’t make my love for Lia smaller, it made it expand ❤️After all, Fenrir will have Danielle as a tutor with 16 years of experience with Lia 🤗 It really feels like a Lia legacy 🥰

Living all of this with Lia didn’t just change my heart, it changed the way I see dogs, responsibility and what it really means to share a life with an animal. Over the years, I heard everything… that I spoiled her too much, that she should be a “yard dog”, that I made my own life harder by taking her with me every time I moved, that I lost freedom, that I sacrificed too much…

And maybe, from the outside, that’s exactly how it looked. But what people didn’t see was the growth that came with it, the discipline, the routine, the emotional maturity, the structure, the bond, the way she shaped who I became as a person. I didn’t just “have a dog”, I walked a long journey with her, and that journey taught me more than any book or theory ever could…

And don’t get me wrong, I love all kinds of animals, especially dogs. But year after year with Lia taught me to look at dogs in a completely different way. I stopped just seeing them on the “surface” and started understanding them on a deeper level, their needs, instincts, emotions, language, and even the things they communicate without words. All of this changed the way I connect with dogs and the way I see my role beside them 🥺

So yes… I truly believe that dogs should always be dogs. But as you can already tell, my idea of what that means is very different from what most people think 😅 For me, a dog is not something you get just to have company, not something to fill emotional gaps, not a “pet” you fit into your routine when it’s convenient. A dog represents responsibility, commitment, routine, growth (and so much more). It’s choosing to share your life with another living being and accepting that this kind of relationship changes you in real ways 😊

What many people don’t understand is that being a good tutor has very little to do with how big your house or your yard is. Space alone doesn’t raise a dog. Time, consistency, structure, physical activity, mental stimulation and real daily involvement do 🥰

I hear this a lot because people judge me for wanting another German Shepherd while living in an apartment. I constantly see comments online saying that big dogs can’t be happy in smaller spaces, that an apartment automatically means a bad life for the dog. And honestly… I couldn’t disagree more. Lia taught me exactly how wrong this myth is. If she could choose, she would always stay in the same square meter where I was 😅 The smaller the places I lived in, the happier she actually seemed, simply because I was always in her line of sight. That’s what mattered to her 🥺

German Shepherds don’t see the house as a playground. They see it as a place to rest, a base, a sleeping space. Their real energy needs to be spent outside, walking, training, exploring, using their body and mind. And that’s exactly why they are not meant to be just “yard dogs”. Yes, they are amazing working dogs, and that’s the whole point. They were bred to move, think, learn and have purpose. When you give them real physical and mental outlets, you’re honoring what the breed truly is.

They are intelligent, active, sensitive and deeply connected to their humans, they need exercise, mental challenges, routine, engagement, tasks and structure, and someone who is truly involved in their daily life and willing to invest time and energy into them. What they truly need is not empty indoor space, but movement, activity, stimulation and shared routines. And that’s why daily presence, time and involvement will always matter more than the size of a home 🙏 kkkkk, I’m laughing alone while writing this 😂 because I just remembered a Japanese presentation I did while living in Japan about, guess what? German Shepherds = She-pa-do 😂 But believe me or not, this obsession exists long before Lia! I’d buy magazines featuring german shepherds, books, everything. Just something in me knew they were fascinating.

And now, talking about “time”… wow. Many of you have been walking with me for almost a decade now 😳

Next year it will be 10 years of Patreon (!!!), which also means it’s almost 10 years of you watching Lia grow old with me, day by day, phase by phase of my life. You didn’t just know Lia, you shared that journey with us, some of you even supported her treatments and physiotherapy when things got really hard 🥺 That bond is real, and I carry it with me, so of course this whole philosophy was built year after year ❤️

Lia passed away in July 2024, and even knowing that one day I would inevitably lose her (she was an old pup after all), it was much harder than I ever imagined. And this is coming from someone who also lost her big brother, the person I admired the most and always wanted to make proud, so I knew what deep grief was… and even then, losing Lia changed me in a very intense way. It was heavier than I expected 😔

But I kept moving, I kept training, I kept pushing myself forward… but I also filled every little gap of my life with movement 🥺 It was like I was addicted to endorphin cuz it numbed my pain away… And looking back now, I can see that part of that was pure survival mode. Physical training helped me cope and stay functional, but I overtrained and pushed my body too far… 😅

When I broke my foot 😅 (apparently a watershed moment in my life 😬), healing started to look different. Suddenly I couldn’t run away from pain anymore, I was forced to slow down/stop and rebuild myself in a healthier and more conscious way… and that’s where Fenrir comes in 🥰

Fenrir is not coming to replace Lia, that will never happen. Lia is part of who I am forever. Fenrir is coming as a new bond, a new responsibility and a new chapter that I chose consciously, after reflection and self-awareness. He represents opening my heart again, choosing growth again, choosing commitment again, even knowing that loving deeply always comes with risk.

But because I am human 😂 and grief is complicated, I couldn’t just get another traditional GSD like Lia 🥺 When I started accepting the idea of a new dog and imagining this new phase, I kept seeing myself with a big black male dog by my side. Only later I found out that “black” is actually an official color for German Shepherds 🥰 So it was decided 😌

And yes… I’ve always been a “one breed woman” after all 😂 But I mean this in a deeper way. When I choose, I choose deeply, when I bond, I commit for life ❤️ And GSDs resonate with me in a way that feels natural. Their loyalty, intelligence, emotional depth and balance between strength and gentleness align with the way I live and grow.

And that’s pretty much it… (she says after writing a whole dossier) 😂

I wanted you to be part of this moment because you were here when things were new, when they were steady and when everything felt unsteady. You supported me through life and grief, you stayed while I was rebuilding myself emotionally and physically, you helped sustain not only my work, but my stability during some of the hardest chapters of my life 🥰

So Fenrir didn’t arrive just to me. He arrived into a life that YOU helped keep standing 🙏

I promise you he will be raised with responsibility, structure, routine, care, respect and real involvement, not as a “pet”, not as something to fill a void or replace Lia, but as a companion in a shared journey of growth.

Thank you for walking with me for so many years.

Thank you for loving Lia with me.

And thank you for being here as a new chapter begins 🥺

Welcome to the pack, Fenrir 🐺🖤