a final tribute...

just a few days after shep left for the bridge, we found these beautiful "blackbird lillies" and this "wise old owl" rock carving, when shopping for landscape supplies at turner's greenhouse, and felt they were just perfect to mark his final resting place...we always said that shep was such a wise old soul. and so we planted his ashes (thanks so much for your help kristopher), just off our back deck, where we can enjoy the flowers and be reminded every day of our shepster-boy. although he always maintained a quiet and unassuming demeanor, his presence in our family was huge and he is greatly missed, especially by his girl jeni. it seems as though he was with us for much longer than two and a half years, and his memory will be with us forever.

shep came to us from a kill shelter in bellefontaine, ohio. he was a shelter favorite and had been held long past his scheduled "time". they would take him out of his kennel into the office on euth days, pretty soon he was just about living in the office, and his time was getting short. we were working thru the urgent section of germanshepherds.com trying to find a place for him to go. first we were going to fly him to a fellow rescuer in california, but she was a single working woman who already had three shepherds, and that turned out not to be a realistic plan. simultaneously we'd been working with a rescuer who had won millions of dollars in the new jersey power ball lottery, and opened a sanctuary in the white mountains of new hampshire...we got a commitment from her just before the thanksgiving weekend to take him, and we were scheduled to meet shelter workers in toledo on monday, and transport him out east. at the end of the weekend, when we called the sanctuary to confirm, we got the news that they'd had an emergency influx of dogs, and space for him had evaporated. when we called the shelter on monday morning to give them this news, they had some news for us...if we could not meet them in toledo by 2pm that day, the shepster was out of time. period. we never thought twice...went out and loaded the crate in the van, picked up our friend and co-pilot larry, and drove to toledo in, as i recall, high winds and freezing rain.

the dear boy we picked up that day was rail thin, his coat was brittle, his tail looked like a rat (but i never saw a dog who could wag his tail SO hard), he had lick granulomas on both front legs, and several kinds of worms. the plan was to foster him. that was the plan all right.

after a stop at the vet's, he went to our dear friends pat and harold at hy hopes kennels, to detox from shelter life and await adoption. pat would say to me, "you know, this is a REALLY nice dog", and i'd say, "yes, won't he make SOMEONE a wonderful pet"?

well on christmas day of '07, he came "home" and i became that "someone". he was a very dear and wise soul, who asked for nothing and gave his heart. with good nutrition and much love he became a stunningly beautiful dog...his manners were impeccable, his temperment flawless.

when he was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma just a few weeks ago, i realized i'd known for a while that something was not quite right, but had always attributed it to playing too hard, or his arthritis. hemangio is not treatable, and we decided on hospice care and no heroic measures, and he had a wonderful last few weeks, filled with brushing, car rides, binzo bones (milkbones, oh did he love milkbones), and lots and lots of love.

he was a very, very, very special boy.

bless your heart bud...rest in peace...