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Chapter 3 is here! This week we go shark fishing, swim in crocodile infested waters, ponder the pros and cons of different dog breeds, and seek out home protection help after our first house in Australia is broken into and ransacked. Police had one safe piece of advice for us on how to deal with these types of criminals in the future...

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Chapter 3 - The Journey Begins

Some epic journeys are born of chance; three friends deciding on a Friday to get in the car, drive to Vegas, and put it all on black. Others, like this one, start with a lot of careful planning. Travellers gathering around a map spread across the table. Or, to be modern, gathering around a screen connected to google maps. It’s less romantic, but look how far you can zoom in!

Research was the name of the game. Danielle and I both knew that we couldn’t get a dog yet. We lived in an apartment and were about as wealthy as a pair of church mice with absolutely no cheese. No cheese and lots of cheese  related debts. That didn’t stop us from planning - we had so many questions that needed to be answered: what breeds should we consider? What traits did we want to see in our dog? Should we get a male or female? Is there ever an acceptable situation in which you can dress a dog in clothing? (Spoiler alert: no!) 

We started with my favourite topic: sex. After that we had to decide on whether we wanted a male or female. We both had the image of a big, imposing dog. A gentle giant to be sure, but one that you would look at twice if you didn’t know them. Having a male dog just seemed to fit the persona we were both looking for. This was supposed to be my wolf, after all. I wanted a dog I could wrestle and have a chance of losing to. 

Size was important but size isn’t everything, right? It isn’t. 

We had to also think of the dog’s temperament. Not too high-energy – we didn’t want something we would have to walk 10 hours a day or something so high strung that they required constant attention. We also didn’t want a dog that would just lie around all day. That’s my job. 

We wanted an athletic dog we could play frisbee with and go on long hikes with but at the same time could equally enjoy a day lounging around the house with us. As we discussed this there was also mention of eating cake while also having cake but we quickly dismissed those thoughts. 

Lastly, we wanted a smart dog. We loved the idea of training our dog with a whole slew of tricks and abilities and wanted to make sure we were getting a good student. A dog that could pick up on new commands or tricks quickly and who wouldn’t suffer too much for our lack of training skills. We were new to this whole thing, afterall. 

So we wanted a dog that was energetic, but not too energetic. A dog that was big and imposing, but gentle and kind. A dog that was intelligent and trainable, but not too high strung and demanding. Oh, and it needs to look like a wolf too, please. 

With our criteria selected we set about going through all the breeds we could think of. 

Huskies and Malamutes were top picks given their wolfishness. It was a Malamute mix that played the role of White Fang. My best friend growing up had two such dogs and you could tell because there was always a thick layer of husky fur on every surface of their house. Couches, floors, pant legs, dishes, sandwiches, it was everywhere. Those dogs are also bred to run and a domestic dog generally only has one place to run: away. 

I stumbled across Akitas and they were an immediate contender. Big dog, comes in wolfish colouring, pointy ears and a long snout to boot. They seemed like a perfect candidate at first but then I read more about temperament issues and how they can be a real handful for a new dog owner. They were beloved by their owners and they could be amazing dogs but it was clear they were not recommended for first time dog owners like us. 

Breeds came and went like this all throughout our last years in Halifax. Labs and Golden Retrievers were too common. Boxers and Bulldogs didn’t have long fur. Rottweilers and Dobermans were missing the wolfishness. But you already know how this story ends don’t you? The German Shepherd. 

I don’t know why it took us so long to think of them but once we did it seemed like a no-brainer. They had the silhouette of a wolf with pointy ears and a long snout. They were intelligent, trainable and known world-wide for their prowess as working dogs. They were fiercely loyal and made great family pets. The more I read, the more I knew that this was the one for us. Great with families, protective of their loved ones, and easy to train; if German Shepherds were a breed of man the rest of us would be single. 

Daily searches on YouTube turned up countless videos of German Shepherds being trained, worked, doing tricks, or just being the best boys. We would spend hours trolling Facebook pages, YouTube videos, and just daydreaming together. What will he be like? Where will he come from? What adventures will we go on? What mischief will we get up to? 

We had decided on our make and model, now we just had to pick a colour. 

No, seriously. As far as I could tell German Shepherds came in three coats: short hair (normal), stock or glamour coat (slightly longer, more plush coat), and a full long coat. They could be black and tan, black and red, all black, all white, sable, or even a bluish grey. We talked about it and laughed about the absurdity of picking the colour of your dog like they were a new car. We looked up photos and videos and would then flip and flop from one combination to the other, all the while knowing that it didn’t matter – we would take whatever we got. 

Time passed quickly this way and before we knew it we were both university graduates. Me with my Bachelor of Commerce and Danielle with her Bachelor of Science. Me taking 5 years to complete a 4 year degree and Danielle already looking forward to her next academic milestone. 

When it came to studying sharks the world was relatively small. She explored all of her options but when the opportunity arose to move to Far North Queensland in Australia to study sharks under two of the most renowned shark scientists in the world there really wasn’t much debate on where we were headed next. 

We packed our bags and headed down under. 

Danielle moved to Australia to pursue a rigorous Masters program which she would then hopefully be able to convert to a PhD and complete the entire thing in 3 years. 

The project she would work on was tracking sharks. They would deploy an array of receivers in the bay that could detect if a transmitter would pass within a certain radius of it. Sharks being sharks, it was quite difficult to convince them to carry these transmitters around with them. The mad scientists decided to fish them up, flip them on their backs adjacent to the boat, surgically implant the transmitter just beneath their skin, suture the incision point closed, then flip the shark back over and let it swim away. 

And that was the easy part.

Once that’s all done they need to go out and download the data from all the receivers. Keep in mind that battery and transmitting technology wasn’t where it is today. To download the data you had to locate the receiver, which was suspended in the water column beneath the surface, dive down to bring it up to the boat, and then plug it in to download the data. 

All of this seems relatively straightforward except that this is the Far North of Australia. These waters are often murky with very low visibility where you can’t see your hand in front of your face. There were the sharks they were targeting for their research but there were also bull sharks, notorious for being aggressive and loving murky waters. Oh, and saltwater crocodiles as well. You know, the ones that have been evolving since dinosaurs were around to be the most efficient killing machines possible? Yeah, those ones. 

When Danielle wasn’t spending 12 hours on the bay, swimming in murky shark and crocodile infested waters, she was on campus compiling data, writing papers, editing papers, or preparing to speak at conferences. 

By contrast I moved to Australia to be with my girlfriend and hang out on the beach. 

While I made light of it, the truth was the contrast between our lives was quite stark. I managed to land a job that paid me well and allowed me to work from home most of the time. This was before working from home was the cool thing to do. In the beginning I would meet with my boss and she would assign me work for the week. This would take me half a day to complete so I would send it to her and ask what she wanted me to do next. Quickly I learned that what she wanted me to do was make that work last a week and not bother her again until the next Monday. 

Message received, loud and clear! 

While Danielle pursued her dream under the tutelage of two of the world's best in the field, I just kind of … hung out. I played a lot of World of Warcraft. I joined a local rugby club. I went for lots of walks. I tried to do anything I could to stave off this unrelenting feeling that I was missing something. That there was more for me out there and that my chances of finding it were slipping away as each day passed. 

It was during this time, early in our lives in Townsville, that we were robbed. I was at our local office for a rare in-person meeting and Danielle was at work when some thugs smashed in our front door and ransacked our apartment. They didn’t take much of value, some clothes, laptops, that sort of thing. All things we could replace through insurance. It was a violating experience though. We spoke to the police who told us that not much would be done here. They knew who it likely was and would pursue it but that we should just replace our things and move on. 

As the officer left I asked him for advice on areas of town we could move to that were safer than others. 

“Doesn’t much matter,” He shrugged, “These guys just look for an opportunity to smash and grab and will do it anywhere they can.” He paused to pack up his things. 

“Actually, you know the best thing you can do to deter these guys?”

“What’s that?”, I asked. 

“Get a dog.”