A Forty-Year Journey with New Skete

By Jeffrey Atwood

Sometime in 1978, while wandering through a bookstore, I picked up the original edition of How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend. Memories of my childhood pet, an Irish Setter named Michael Dennis, came back to me. At the time I was traveling a lot for work, and owning a pet was impossible, but I bought the book, tucked away the idea of having a pet again, and thought to myself “Someday, maybe.…” This book was my first knowledge of the New Skete monastery.

It’s not surprising that it was the dogs that attracted me to New Skete initially. My first spoken word was “dog,” and I have always loved animals, wild and domesticated; I think it’s safe to claim that I never met a dog I didn’t like, although I met a few dogs who didn’t like me. My spouse had grown up with a German Shepherd dog named Fidèl (Fido) and was especially fond of the breed. Over the next 40 years, I kept up with the monks’ publishing and new editions: How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend, The Art of Raising a Puppy, Divine Canine, VCR tapes, DVDs, and internet postings. I did my homework, and I learned gradually about Eastern Orthodoxy, with which my spouse was familiar. We moved to Massachusetts, to Minnesota, to New York, to Ontario, to California, and wherever we were, I would stop and admire everyone’s dog, being careful to ask for permission before approaching, and I was sometimes warned off. I didn’t meet too many German Shepherd Dogs on the street.

Fate, or providence, brought us back to Bloomfield, Connecticut in 2014 to help take care of my elderly parents and mother-in-law. We moved into my parents' house with its large plot of land, which everyone agrees is nirvana for a herding dog. The property is contiguous with a thousand-acre state park filled with wildlife, including deer, bears, bobcats, wild turkeys, foxes, coyotes, porcupines, skunks, opossums, squirrels, snakes, hawks, and...you name it. We desperately wanted a dog, but we weren’t ready, so we helped our neighbors by caring for their dogs. Looking back, I think this was probably the best arrangement: you get the joys of housebroken pets without the vet or food bills!

Bloomfield has the distinction of being the home of the Fidelco Guide Dogs, and this was also fortuitous, since there are many German Shepherd Dogs in the town and a lot of veterinary experience with the breed. My mother had been friends with the late Mrs. Helen Kaman, who had a hand in raising the first German Shepherd Dogs which grew to become Fidelco. The Bloomfield Police Department also has two K9 officers, whose brave German Shepherd dogs, Jäger and Zeke, are on duty.

Finally, after we both retired, I thought we were ready for a pet of our own. I had started to follow New Skete online through Facebook. I read the instructions for applying for a dog and started reading and watching everything I could about German Shepherd dogs, including everything Brother Luke posted online. On the official November 1 application deadline, I applied for a dog. Within a few months, I got the call and drove up to New Skete just before Christmas.

New Skete Monastery is isolated and picturesque, and it is especially beautiful with snowfall. As we drove up the driveway we saw a magnificent dog we recognized from the videos, Khan! Accompanying Kahn was, as I suspected, Brother Luke, and I greeted him and the magnificent Kahn. I can’t imagine a better welcome to New Skete than that.

I think that the moment I heard Brother Luke’s voice live was the instant that I recognized my affinity for the monastery—and not just the dogs. Since then I have increased my participation with New Skete; I’ve taken the dog training course with Brother Christopher and Marc Goldberg, and I’ve kept up with my reading, including the latest book, Let Dogs Be Dogs: Understanding Canine Nature and Mastering the Art of Living with Your Dog. I also participated in the Annual Pack Walk. During the dog training course last June I was at the monastery every day for several days in a row, and I was able to attend the beautiful matins and vespers and hear some magnificent voices led by Brother Marc. It was also during this time at the monastery when my 92-year-old father fell into his final illness, and I was greatly comforted by everyone. I also visit the monastery for concerts and the annual open house. My relationship with the monks’ monastery, the nuns’ monastery, and the superb staff and local volunteers goes beyond just admiration. I have a second New Skete German Shepherd dog, now a male and a female, and they draw a crowd wherever they go, even in a town with a lot of handsome German Shepherd dogs. Both my dogs run to the computer expectantly whenever I play a video narrated by Brother Luke. I would do the same.

I wish I lived closer to New Skete and could visit more often. It’s about a 3-hour drive for me. Someday, maybe….