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Featured Dog Echo 
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Aries, I want you to know that I officially adopted you on paper, although everyone knew that you and I were inseparable you were meant to be with us. I wanted you to know that I love you more then ever. I want you to have the best of everything, sending you to the Rainbow Bridge will take away the illness that you have, there is food there that you can eat, lots of other dogs for you to play with. Be free of all the sickness and live life to the fullest sweet boy. Mommy loves you so very much….many kisses. Posted 2-28-10.
Hi there,
My name is Karen Kousbroek (was Marlette), and I just want you to know that our precious Jedd (name at adoption was Floyd) passed away on February 2nd. He was with me for six glorious years, and I can't tell you how amazing my big guy was. He was a very vocal dog, and voiced his opinion of what ever was happening. He had a great life with me and his two sisters, Rosie and Daisy.
I rescued him ( or he rescued me) when I lived in Linden, VA. We met my husband, and moved to Tampa, FL, and then Nashville, TN. I know Jedd is waiting for me at the rainbow bridge, along with his sister Rosie.
When I rescued Jedd in 2004, he had a nasty case of heartworms. We cleared that up, but in 2007 he contracted Lupus, and most recently diabetes.
We will miss him dearly.
Thank you for letting me adopt my wonderful guy. This is a picture of him at Christmas, 2007.
Karen Kousbroek
Henry has written "Nick's Book", a movie of photos and remembrances, and put it
on his website. He has granted us permission to postit on our website.
You can view it at;
The Virginia German Shepherd Rescue offers it’s condolences to Henry.
just sitting watching the world go by.
void. So, we began looking at both the Mid-Atlantic GSR and VGSR web sites. We found a couple of shepherds on
the VGSR site that interested us enough to put in an adoption application and met a few Shepherds at the Sterling
Petsmart. Then we received a phone call about Lobo from his foster parents, Jim and Karen Bruns. That phone call
and subsequent conversation with Jim Bruns piqued our interest to the point where we decided to learn more about
Lobo before making a final decision about a shepherd we had previously expressed an interest in adopting. When we
saw Lobo's write-up and pictures on the VGSR web site, we knew that we had to meet this handsome boy. We also
felt he was probably the shepherd we really wanted. Almost immediately we called Jim Bruns back and set up a time
to meet the boy.
When we met Lobo, it was love at first sight. He certainly met any criteria we had, for Lobo was obviously all
German Shepherd, all boy, very smart and very affectionate. We were overjoyed when we passed muster with Jim
and Karen and were able to take Lobo home that very day.
Adopting a shepherd is a two-way street. We adopted Lobo, but realized that he also had to adopt us. From the very
first, Lobo's progress in adopting us as his family has gone really better than we expected. After all, in a span of not
much more than year, we were the third family he had been with - plus two additional stays in a foster home. So, we
have been pleasantly surprised by how well he has adjusted and the trust he has developed in us during the last 10
months.
When either Marilyn or I leave the house for shopping or other reasons, he'll wait right by the front door until our
return. A couple of times I went to the MD house for the weekend and left Lobo and Marilyn in Virginia. The
welcome I received when I returned was overwhelming. For these reasons, we are hesitant to leave Lobo alone in
the house and probably won't try it for a while. If we both need to go somewhere, Lobo comes with us.
Lobo has pretty much learned the rules of the house although he has slipped a couple of times. Once he snagged a
leftover piece of pork chop off the kitchen counter and has been caught a couple of times snoozing on the living room
sofa. He gets scolded for his rare transgressions and knows he goofed up. He doesn't stay in the "doghouse" long,
however, and will come to each of us looking for some lovin' and reassurance, which he always gets. He still has a
tendency to be mouthy, but he gets corrected with a "No bite" every time and so he knows it's not permitted.
However when he gets excited (for example, when greeting us) he has more of a tendency to mouth. Training him
not to mouth is still a work in progress. Leash training is another area that we need to work on, but I haven't spent
the time working with him that that I need to. During this coming spring and summer I'm going to spend a lot more
time working with him and the leash.
Lobo has turned out to be quite good at communicating with us. If he needs or wants something, he finds a way to
tell us. A great deal of his communication is vocal, which is one thing I have always loved by German Shepherds.
He will whine, grunt, grumble, snort or sigh loudly to help get his message across. He is an extremely intelligent,
trusting and affectionate boy and will actively seek a friendly pat and assurance several times a day. His actively
seeking periodic assurance tells us that his adjustment to us is still on-going and probably will be for some time to
come. This was expected on our part, for we know that Lobo's loyalty makes it very tough to leave one family and
go to another. In short, Lobo is our new best friend and we love him dearly and I believe that he returns that love and
have even started chasing each other around in the back yard. I am really surprised at how grumpy Molly
has been with him, and how long it took her to thaw. She isn't great all the time, she is still jealous of him,
but is getting better. We even caught one of our cats sleeping next to him a couple of nights ago. He is so
She is our spastic and clingy child. She came to us back in 2004 as an early Valentines day present to ourselves. The foster at the time (Claire,) was actually doing a home interview with us for another Shepherd we were looking at. After the home visit, we didn't quite think that the other GSD was a good match. The following day we got a call that a Shepherd mix was left @ the DC Shelter and was pretty much on the queue to be euthanized if VGSR hadn't stepped in. Our foster mom recommended that maybe we could take a look at this silly girl and see if she would be a suitable match. At the time, how could we say no, considering the circumstances she was in. By the time, Claire dropped her off to visit while she ran errands; Missy ran straight into our house, jumped onto my husband and it was kismet! We've had our ups and downs with her, especially with her anxiety and silly behavior, but she has come a long way!
"Pepper" (Big girl Black/Tan)
Pepper is our bratty, rotten, typical shepherd girl (her human Dad has ruined her!) this is her bio below from her... don't laugh MySpace page. Yes Pepper has her own page with tons!!! of GSD friends online.
Hi, my name is Pepper, or "Peppernutts" as my dad likes to call me. I am a juvenille GSD who was adopted by my loving parents through the Va. German Shepherd Rescue when I was only 6 weeks old back in 2006 (apparently a "back-yard breeder" didn't want me.) I came along at a crucial time in my Dad's life. He had just lost his BFF of almost 14 years "Major" a beautiful Siberian Husky. With sadness still written on their faces and hearts I was exactly what they needed, and for my new big sister too (Missy.) My mom and dad got a call from VGSR that they had a new puppy! So here I am :) They have raised me like a human child (so I am very spoiled.) I am still very true to my breed, but I am very playful and very sweet. I love to give kisses, "cuddle-up" and Sit on my dads head. I can't understand why he feels squished I am only 93lbs. I am still young and have more growing to do. I am still clumsy around the house. Dad says I am All Feet! I love my big sister Missy who was also adopted from the VGSR. She is a bit spastic sometimes but it's not her fault, but my mom works very hard with her every day. I also love my balls and my cat "Bilbo" Posted 2-13-10.
Life changes ….