VGSR sends deepest sympathies to Lea and John on the loss of Frodo #2 on 11/01/07. Lea writes, "Last night Frodo, who was not exactly an angel here on Earth, joined the ranks of the angels waiting for us at the Rainbow Bridge. We lost Frodo last night due to complications following his neuter on Wednesday. He was a character who had stolen our hearts with his charm. While he did not like kids, and tried with all his might to eat our cat, he was a true gentleman in the house and we had made so much progress with him. He had perfect manners in the house, ignored Remo's numerous barking assaults and was Nella's (my new foster) best friend and wrestle buddy. He was a talented ball catcher and loved to cuddle up with you on the sofa or bed. He never once lifted his leg on anything INSIDE the house, which is more than I can say for most of my male foster dogs. I will miss him. So, please keep Frodo in your thoughts and know that he has left a huge hole in my heart."

Lea

Our beloved Georgy Girl has now joined her numerous brothers and sisters at the Rainbow Bridge.  Dr. Chris and Jessica at Clocktower were both with us to make her journey as painless as possible.  When she came to us she was a skinny thing with half an ear missing, a old fracture in her leg and mama teats that nearly dragged the ground.  She had been taken from off of a chain in PG County MD where she was used as a brood bitch.   George was one of our very few "foster failures". 

Georgy was diagnosed with cancer of the thyroid last year and up until the last couple of weeks she fought a pretty good fight.  We will miss our stubborn, hard-headed girl who was a master manipulator who took the art of passive resistance to a whole new level.  Sandbag and Sack O'Potatoes were two of her well earned nicknames.  John and I will miss our crazy girl who forced us to remove handles from the sliding glass door, put up a six-foot board to board privacy fence, and was known bite a butt every once in a while.

Sweet dreams girl.   We will miss you so much.

Lea

Diane and Billy,
We had to euthanize Gertie yesterday. We think she was either 13 or 12 years of age. She had a serious tumor in her colon which had matasticized. I cannot tell you how stoic and sweet she has been in the face of this. She had developed terrible arthritis in addition.  Robert had been hoisting her in the car so she could chase her beloved ball right up to the end. She only liked one style of ball, so we got
a dozen of them and this was her last one. We will have her buried on Larissa's property with our other dogs. Larissa is the manager of La Cuisine who found Gertie on the web site originally. We have had her, I think for 5 years. We cannot tell you how much we have loved having her. She loved being an only dog! She was never crated, and we even had the stairs up to the apartment above the shop carpeted for her to make it easier for her to climb. That worked for several months, but she even got too weak in her hind legs to do that. She loved riding in the Defender with Robert. She just lay in the back so she could have her nose scratched. We love and miss her very much and thank you both for saving her. With much affection,
Robert and Nancy

This is Gertie's blog Getting Gertie http://www.lacuisineus.com/blog.php?bid=25

Deepest condolences to Glenda, Sheila, and all those VGSR volunteers that were so deeply involved in caring for sweet Ginger when she came to us, already in a bad way with tumors in her ears. Glenda writes, "Yesterday (08/22/06) we helped sweet Ginger to the Bridge. She crossed over peacefully, with people that loved her - she was so tired. She closed her eyes and finally could sleep with no pain. Ginger was very sweet and quiet. She had not had an easy road, that was clear. She spent her last days eating ice cream with those that cared about her. She was loved and spoiled until she was too tired to continue. She will be missed terribly by her foster family. She deserved a hell of a lot better life than she had."

VGSR sends our deepest condolences to Barbara Dodge, one of our volunteers, regarding Gringo, who went to the Rainbow Bridge on June 24, '02. She writes, "I have a very special story to tell. For those of you who don't know, my best friend Betsey lives down near Roanoke, Virginia. It was she that I went to go visit on my week off. Betsey and I met in college, and we both have a very deep love for animals. Our last three years of college, we lived on a farm, and as soon as arrangements were made to live there, (it seems) we started acquiring animals. On our trip to the shelter, we adopted a dog and cat, now known as Magny and Tilly. We acquired Spencer the cat from a horse barn where he was doomed to be eaten (like his brother Cagny)by the resident Doberman (no offense to dobies). Miss Bristol "The Brat" Anne the cat was found in a dumpster by a friend of a friend. We also acquired Gringo, a German Shepherd, when we moved in to the house. Let's just say he "conveyed" with the house. Now Gringo was a very scared boy when we would approach him, but one day, he was WAAAY out of it - wouldn't move, wouldn't attempt to jog off when we approached him. We new something was wrong. We rushed him to the vet immediately. Among other ailments, he had gotten into somebody's garbage, and gotten into chicken bones, and they were lodged in his intestines. Without hesitation, we immediately agreed that he must have surgery. While under, he was also neutered (complete with an undescended testicle). Gringo fully recovered, and once he was up and about, he would jog away from us whenever we approached him. Now imagine this - since we were bound and determined to make this guy our pet, (especially since we just spent all that money!) we devised ways of getting him to accept us. We fed him. We talked gently to him. We resorted to feeding him on our screened in porch, so we could silently run around to the exterior door of the screen porch and lock him in. Poor guy, you really should have seen him! He was so nervous. Never, ever a mean bone in his body. He'd just look at us with eyes imploring us not to hurt him. Eventually he "came around", and was our housepet. He'd let us do all kinds of silly things, like dress him up (we have the pics to prove it), give him hugs and kisses (how embarrassing!!) and look in his ears for ticks. As the years rolled by, it almost seemed as though he was getting younger - he learned how to play fetch (well, sorta - atleast he'd chase the item!), he got very excited when it was time to go to bed (he'd WOO WOO and wag his tail so hard, his whole body would sway from side to side). He'd pounce on things. He was a riot, and he was totally and completely endearing. He became known as "The Poophead". Gringo was generous with the additions to the house, both canine and feline. Gringo was brave when his girlfriend Magny crossed the bridge. Gringo was not without his faults, but they are trivial now. Gringo taught us a lot about responsibility, compassion, trust, and most of all love. Gringo died today. We estimate his age to have been roughly 14 years. If we couldn't have literally seen the cancer growing in his belly (his spleen actually) he would've never let us know anything was wrong. He was brave and stoic. Betsey explained to him that his other "mom" Barbi was coming down to see him, and waited for my visit to come and go. During my visit there, he never let on that anything was wrong - but he couldn't hide his belly and the tumor. He knew it was important to spare his "mom" Betsey, and thus he waited to die until after she left for work. This is why I do German Shepherd Rescue. Thanks for listening (reading)."

Barbara Dodge, Volunteer

Fostermom to: Bronwyn, Maxwell, and Olivia

It is with sadness that I inform you our lovely Hannah died at the Hope Center in Vienna early Saturday

morning of a ruptured tumor.  We adopted her back in 2002 when she was known to the Va. Rescue

League as "Zelda."  This beautiful animal was heroically given up by her previous owner when the owner's

living arrangements suddenly changed and she was no longer able to provide a proper living environment for

her two dogs (if I remember correctly, the other dog was a husky who was placed through another rescue

about the same time we adopted Hannah - July 2002).  Her previous owner was at all the meet-and-greets and

I want to thank her for doing the right thing by her dog and for allowing us to give her a good life when things

were so uncertain in hers.  I hope that she sees this note about Zelda/Hannah, and that she knows we did every-

thing we could to give her a great life.

Hannah came to us as an adolescent - at 11 months and 60 pounds.  The first couple of weeks we had her she

was a wild child!  I remember the first time I walked her she (while on leash!) jumped on a parked car and

then came home and hopped up on our glass topped coffee table (thankfully no damage to dog or table!!!).  

She was all over the boards and just so excited to explore and play.  She had a tongue a mile long and wasn't

shy about letting it just flop all over the place.  Over the last six years she grew another 20 pounds and became

a strong, confident girl who developed great manners, a nice relationship with car-rides (eventually) and a

strong maternal instinct.  Each baby we had, she welcomed as her own, and in fact when we brought our

youngest home from the hospital, she took one sniff of the baby carrier, ran to the nursery and plopped herself

down next to the crib and waited for us to bring him in for a nap.  She was as gentle and sweet with our children 

as we could have wished.  She loved to play ball and could catch any toss no matter what kind of gymnastics

might have been involved.  She LOVED to swim, but she wasn't all that happy when one of us swam out farther

in the water than she was willing to go! 

Hannah was pro-tennis ball and anti-stranger.  She loved "her" kids and the guests we would invite into our

home - as long as they weren't men!  :)  Hannah was a sweet sweet girl who went too soon.  Her German

Shepherd brother Schultz is mourning her loss as feelingly as we are - and despite three kids and another

dog running around, the house is eerily quiet without her here.  She went too soon, and very unexpectedly,

but we were lucky to have this magnificent girl as part of our lives and we are eternally grateful that she

chose us to be her family.  Thank you to the Virginia German Shepherd Rescue League for taking her in and

involving her in the adoption process, we would not have had this great girl with us had you not been there to

arrange all the adoption events and make sure step by step that Hannah would go to the right place.  We sure

think that she did and we will miss her forever.

Sincerely,

Laura & Kevin Friel

Hans

VGSR sends condolences to our Frequent Fosterer and Board Member, Susan Lynch and her family on the loss of Hans on December 24, 2007. Susan writes, "We are deeply saddened to tell you that our gentle giant Hans went to the Rainbow Bridge on Christmas Eve. Hans, who was almost 11 years old, died peacefully in his sleep from cardiomyopathy, a terminal heart condition that we only discovered five days before his death. Hans was a big, loveable, 'teddy bear' of a shepherd who stole our hearts. We first met Hans almost two years ago when we did his temperament test. At that time, Hans was primarily an outside dog and was shy and fearful. We had to coax him into our car with dog treats and a push from behind. As soon as he got in the car that day, he hunkered down on the back seat, ears flat against his head and in shock to be moved from his 'back yard' of 9 years. At first, we needed to coax Hans out of his crate at our home with baked chicken. Despite his robust size, he was still a shy and gentle man. In time enough though, the beautiful sweet Hans emerged. Hans loved people. His heaven was to get his big head and ears rubbed. He would purr in contentment with every head scratch. Hans loved Milkbones. He would guide your hand ever so gently and cleverly over to the treat jar and certainly be the first in the pack in line for his Milkbone. Hans loved to chase kitties. They were so much fun to pursue. You would see Hans run all the way up to - and into - the trees after that kitty scampering to safety. Ever so gentle, he would not harm a soul - but he loved the thrill of the chase. Hans loved his pack of five dogs at home. While it took him some time to embrace the other shepherds as friends, he soon learned that lying around the family room chewing a bone with his human and Shepherd pack was a good way to spend time. In the final two years of his life, Hans came to be cherished for what he had always been - a strikingly beautiful German Shepherd with the biggest and kindest heart imaginable. Hans we love you and we miss you and we pray that you are getting head rubs forever now."

Love Susan, Fran, Peggy and Jeff

Heidi, Jeannie Davis' German Shepherd of 13 years, went to the Rainbow Bridge on March 14, '02. "Heidi was rescued from a shelter in Arizona. She had captured the heart of my family on the day before her scheduled euthanasia. She got up on her hind legs and begged through the cage to my sister; and with that she was adopted on the spot! Once at her new home in Scottsdale, she would run with the horses and play with our other 2 German Shepherds, Ludwig and Wolfgang. After 4 years of companionship, she said goodbye to Ludwig and Wolfgang as their time had come to pass over to the Rainbow Bbridge and at the age of 8 she mothered the family's new GSD, Rudolph, A.K.A Rudi. Rudi and Heidi quickly became best friends and often protected the family homestead. On her last day, Heidi and Rudi were laying outside in the sun by the pool with my Mother. Heidi got up, and went to my Mother's side for no apparent reason. She then had a massive stroke and died in my Mother's arms. Both of my parents insist she did not suffer and died peacefully. We are all very saddened; Rudi is depressed as well--his playmate is no longer with him in form but we know she is with our family in spirit." VGSR offers our sincere condolences to Jeannie and her family.

VGSR sends condolences to David Wyttenbach on the loss of Hero in February, 2008. David writes, "I'm sad to tell you that my dog, Hero, died this last week of cancer. He was only 8 years old. It came upon him (us) so suddenly. He had just finished his state recertification test for search and rescue this last December, a grueling test that he flew through. He was good to go to continue being a SAR dog for another two years, at which point when his certification ran out I planned to retire him and let him settle into old age. Sadly he never got there. He died a SAR dog having responded to almost forty searches and finding one missing person. I know you saw us around town occasionally, and we came out to one of your own events and did a demonstration, so I just wanted to let you know. I also wanted to let you know that in the future when the time is right, I'll more than likely be contacting your organization for my next dog. As of right now, I don't foresee continuing on with search and rescue and starting over with another dog, but whether I do or not I know that I'd like to rescue a GSD that needs a home."

Take care,

David Wyttenbach

Virginia Search and Rescue Dog Association

VGSR extends sincere, heartfelt sympathies to Robyn Lori Rosenthal, one of our dedicated volunteers on the loss of her a beautiful old yellow Lab, Honeybun.

"Our Honeybun left us last night. Some of you might remember that when she came to live with me five years ago it was only going to be "until I found her a good home." Well, Honey decided that her home was going to be here with the Rotten Ones and it took her about 38 seconds to explain that was the way it was going to be. Somehow the big, old, stinky, shedding dog that I did not want turned into one of the great loves of my life. We will miss her terribly, but after fighting lymphosarcoma for two years she was tired and hurting. Now she is somplace where she can run and play instead of having to be lifted and carried. Goodbye, Honeybun. January 1, 1987 - March 6, 2002."

VGSR sends deepest condolences to Alice and Bob Lucan on their loss of Jack. Alice writes, "What is it, a privilege, a gift, a blessing? To know a dog like Jack and to be loved by him so much that he saw none of my flaws. In his eyes, I could not make a mistake more serious than failing to take him for a walk when he wanted one. (Jack would go out and come back tired, happy and satisfied, maybe after enjoying a good "gossip" with the guys. But he would still rather have had me along. I know this.) And when we did go out together, he would not explore. He would stay close. He was always responsible for me, even when I obstreperously thought I was the one in charge. He was not anxious except when I was away from him. He did love everyone else - and he worshipped Bob, my husband, his Alpha - but what he wanted was to be there for me always and he always was. My greatest pleasure, our great pleasure, was to take a nap or a walk together, to train together, or just to soak up each other's scent. I have no trophies to show your greatness, Jack, my angel love. You and I won no show titles, though you could have done. Your titles are the ones I gave you, my angel bear, my cuddle pup, my big brave handsome dog. He lost none of this at his end. Every ounce of his love, strength, wisdom and character stayed with him while his last illness made him sick, stole his breath, and then felled him. "They" always say it is like losing a child, but that is not true. Losing a child is much larger than the parents' grief, it is a profound tragedy, unjust, a loss for mankind. Losing my dog is an intense personal loss, something quite between me and God. He gave me this gift, this blessing, this privilege, this manifestation of pure love, and now, Jack is gone. He is with You, Father, but what am I to do?"

Alice Lucan

VGSR extends condolences to VGSR volunteer Sharon McHale on the loss of Jackie in February, '09. Risa writes, "Sharon lost her old black lab mix Jackie to cancer two weeks ago. It happened so fast; she started getting picky about food (definitely not her!) and losing weight. Jackie had a mass in her abdomen, and exploratory surgery showed cancer of the spleen and liver. They didn't even bring her out of anaesthesia; the prognosis was too grim. Sharon only had two years with the old gal, but she misses her terribly. Sharon’s other doggie, Charlie, is slowly getting adjusted, but he was pretty down for a while too.

- Risa Lapidow

VGSR sends condolences to Rick and Lorelle Duelley on the passing of Jackson #6 to the Rainbow Bridge on December 01, 2007. Lorelle write, "Sometimes I guess life is just not fair. We only got to have Jack for less than two years. He was the best hugger in the world. He would just wrap his head around your neck and hug you. We miss his big sloppy kisses and his floppy jowels when he had his head out of the car. We still have his slobber down the side of our truck. He sure could make us laugh. We always had to watch for motorcycles when he was in the car because boy did he hate it when they went by. He was a big handsome boy who loved squeeky toys. We miss the squeek, squeek, squeek around the house. If either of us got out of bed first, Jack was always there to fill your space. We all miss snuggly Jack."

Rick and Lorelle Duelley

VGSR extends sincere, heartfelt sympathies to the Duelly family on the loss of Jada on August 28th, 2006. They write, "Jada passed away on Monday Aug. 28, 2006, after being diagnosed with spleen cancer in April. We first met Jada at an adoption event about 3 years ago. Our son, Ricky, fell in love with Jada at first sight. We finally brought her home about three weeks later. She has been the love of our lives. She was the sweetest, kindest, most well-behaved girl. We took her everywhere with us. She went on vacation and also visited Ricky at Virginia Tech. Our home is so empty without her. She charmed everyone she met. Our dog sitter neighbor who has always cared for our pets even let her move in whenever we couldn't take her with us. We have had other dogs who never got that invitation. We have met people once and when we saw them again they would say, "I'm sorry I don't remember your name, but how is Jada?" She always impressed everyone. We are having trouble sleeping without our big ball of fur to snuggle with in bed. Thank you all at VGSR for finding Jada for us. Now at least we have Jackson #6 who has been a big comfort for us during this time. We are so lucky to get another great dog!

Love, Lorelle & Rick Duelley

 “We are so grateful for the time we had with Jade – and are sad that it abruptly ended, much too soon. 

After suddenly going blind, Jade was diagnosed with a brain-tumor and was euthanized on Tuesday,

July 20, 2010.

My forever image of Jade is her standing on her hind legs and using her front paws to open our sliding

glass door – something she did, daily, (but, never closed it behind herself).  Jade was a perfect playmate

and companion for our older dog; gentle and tolerant of our children’s affection; and my personal shadow. 

I loved taking Jade for early-morning jogs and walks – she intuitively had a perfect-heel – I think because

she loved being by my side and had no desire to pull ahead.  She brought so much joy to all our lives and

we miss her dearly.”

Robin and Tim O'Sullivan