CONGRATULATIONS, YOU JUST WON THE LOTTERY!

How many of you play the lottery? How many of you ever won a lottery? Do you buy yourself a ticket every week and dream of what you would do with all that money once you had it in your hands? Oh I bet many of your dreams would center on your dogs. So what would you do differently than you do now if you won the lottery? Would your lifestyle change all that much or would you save your money for a rainy day?

Well let’s take a look at some of the things that you could do if you were blessed as the next big winner of the lottery.

You could build your dream home with your dogs in mind. Would you build a kennel for your dogs? Maybe you would extend the kennel runs that you already have. Would you attach the kennel runs to a part of your house or would you have a separate kennel building away from the house? Would you invest in new dog houses or kennel roofs? How about new flooring for the kennel runs?

And what kind of house would you build? Would it all be on one floor? Would you have a trophy room displaying all of your dog’s show win pictures and awards? Would this room be where you would bring potential puppy buyers? Perhaps from this room, you would have a mud room leading to a breeze way that would be attached to your kennels.

Would you have a special whelping and puppy room to welcome your new litters to the world? Would your newborns be whelped in the newest “state of the art” whelping box? You would have all of your whelping supplies in this room. You would also make sure that you had a telephone in this room so you could be in contact with your vet during delivery.

Would you have a special grooming room for the dogs? You might have a big bath tub and grooming tables with special blow dryers. You would have shelves with grooming products lined up for easy use. There would be nail clippers, scissors, brushes and combs and every coat enhancing shampoo and conditioner imaginable. There would be all different leashes and collars depending upon what you needed them for.

Would your dog’s diet change? Would you feed him the best holistic food on the market or would you start feeding him a raw diet. If you don’t like getting your hands dirty and bloody from raw feeding, don’t worry, that’s what you have a new maid for.

Would you use ceramic tiles on your kitchen floor and would your whole house be built with wood floors throughout your home? Would you own an industrial strength vacuum cleaner to help keep those floors free of the gift of the German Shepherd Dog’s undercoat?

What kind of car would you drive? Would you buy yourself a brand new SUV or a van or would you really splurge and go out and buy yourself a brand new motor home? Who knows, maybe you’d buy one of each. After all you would have plenty of room in your three car garage. You’ll have to leave your brand new boat outside though. That’s alright, you can keep it covered.

Would you take a look at your dogs and re-evaluate your breeding and showing stock? If money wasn’t a problem, would you go out and look to buy yourself the next “superstar?” Would you hire the best handler in the country and start a show campaign with your newest member to your kennel? Would you put more ads in the Review? Would you advertise in all of the show win magazines?

Would you book a hotel for the American and Canadian Nationals a year in advance to ensure you got the best room possible? Would you also make sure that you reserved a front roll seat to the shows so you got an “up close and personal” view of every dog that was entered?

Would you set aside a certain amount of money for German Shepherd Dog rescues efforts to take care to find the best homes possible for the “forgotten” ones? Would you donate to shelters to make sure the animals got food and medical attention? Would you quit your job now that you are a “gazillionaire” so you can devote some volunteer time to the shelters in your community?

Would you remember the homeless, the poor, the sick and the dying? Would you change your will? Or perhaps you would stay just the way you are so your “come out of the woodwork” no good for nothing relatives don’t notice anything different is going on.

So you just won the lottery. What would you do with your gazillions?