 At
the beginning of October we received a phone call about a German
Shepherd. Her Owner had moved from a farm cottage to a house
in town and works long hours. He had had the dog for 5 years. We
were told that she had no vices but hated the town, other dogs and
being inside. The owner tried to get her a new home
through local big shelters; they deemed her un re-homeable and would
not take her. The owner felt he had no other choice but
to take her to the vets to put her to sleep. It so happened
that the vet he went to was our vet; they refused and contacted us
to see what we could do.
Unfortunately we were chocker block so all we could do was to ask the owner to 'just hold on' and as
soon as we had a space we would take her.
"Poppy" has been
here two weeks now and has settled in well, she is a DREAM, good
recall, walks to heel, loves a cuddle. She is accompanied on her
walks with a GSD X male and a Labrador female and tries her best to
get in the house but is living out at the moment. She is a big girl
with good coat, moves well and can be quite lively, there is a
question mark over her age and she could be as young as seven
although I would have guessed about nine. she has not been spayed as
far as we know but will be wormed, flea treated and vaccinated soon.
We feel that the ideal home for her
would be as a mans companion where she could have warmth and company
for her retirement, she can be left but loves to be with you so it
would be nice if she could come to work with you but not have to
face too many new people or new dogs. If you or someone you know
might be able to offer her a perfect forever home then please do
email me for a re-homing questionnaire, please forward or cross post
at will.So glad that her
previous owner was able to 'hold on' and that our wonderful vets
took the trouble to call us. She is safe with us now and we really
hope that we can find her her 'special' person. 
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UPDATE 10th March
2005
Five months later and
Poppy has become one of the pack here, she is a
nightmare in the town but a dream in the country. We
came to the conclusion that we would never find a
more suitable home than here with us, and at her age
we really did not want her to start again with new
people.
She performs a useful
role here dealing with some of the stroppy newcomers
and putting them in their place and we would welcome
sponsorship for her active retirement with us.
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Update 30th July 2006
Poppy has continued to settle and we had progressed
from her sleeping in a kennel to her sleeping in a spot in the
conservatory. This past week we had a number of very bad thunder
storms and as usual Poppy wanted to be in the kitchen and as close
to us as possible during them. The difference this time was that
afterwards Poppy showed no sign of wanting to return to her outdoor
life, instead at bedtime she followed the rest of the pack through
to the bedroom. Due to lack of space we really couldn't make room
for another big dog in there but she seemed perfectly content to lay
outside the room across the doorway. That now seems to be her
preferred spot and she is now most definitely a house dog.
Update 5th September 2006
Poppy was put to sleep
yesterday morning (4th September).
She was a bit
under the weather over the weekend of the 20th August
so Dave took her to the vets on Tuesday 22nd August.
The vets examined her and found what they thought was a tumour
on her spleen, which is something GSD’s are prone to. Dave was
given a weeks supply of antibiotics,
a sample pot for a urine test and an appointment for a weeks
time.
Sadly over the
next few days her health deteriorated and her breathing seemed
shallow and a little laboured.
We added a second type of antibiotics to try and help her but
there did not seem to be much improvement. By the time of the
next vet visit on Tuesday 29th August her spleen was
noticeably more enlarged, her breathing was worse and the vet
could detect a mass in her lungs. It was obvious that Poppy was
on borrowed time. The vets changed one of the types of
antibiotics and at our request added in steroids to try and make
Poppy more comfortable. The steroids seemed to help for a few
days and we had a brief spell of the old Poppy but sadly it
didn’t last.
Sunday night
her breathing started to deteriorate rapidly and by Monday
morning she was in obvious distress so the vet was called for a
house visit. After an examination the vet confirmed what we
already suspected. Poppy was starting to suffer and there was
nothing further that could be done. The vet advised that the
best thing was to let Poppy go so very sadly she was put to
sleep. She has been laid to rest in the woods at the bottom of
our field.
Poppy was a
very special lady and has left a big hole in all our hearts.
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