Happy Anniversary Sweet Pea!

One year ago today, our little guy, Sagan, came to live with us. We adopted him from the Washington State German Shepherd Rescue, who rescued him from the Pierce County Humane Society. Sagan's story was really heartbreaking. At the time he was discovered by a PC Sheriff, he was only 9 months old.

The story we were told by the Rescue people was that he was found locked in an abandoned car in a seedy motel parking lot out in Spanaway, along with a 3 month old purebred GSD that was apparently his younger brother from a second litter of puppies. The dogs were allegedly adopted by someone in the military who was in Texas, because both dogs were from Texas and that his name was "Soldier". "Soldier" was also registered with the AKC and we were given the info to obtain his papers if we wanted them. So it's December of 2005, and bitterly cold. The Sheriff went to check out this car in a motel lot and finds the two dogs, starving to death in the freezing cold weather. They were taken to the Humane Society, then by WSGS Rescue. Both dogs were pitiously underweight and dehydrated. Another day or so and it was all over.

Brian and I were kicking around adding another fur child to our home, and we knew we wanted a GSD. Brian is scrolling through the pictures, looking for an older, mellower male that we could introduce into our household, which already contained Pepper who considers herself "top dog" if you'll excuse the pun. As he scrolls by, I see an entry that says, "9 month old male". There was no photo yet, but the basic info. I squeal, "Oh look! A nine month old!" And that set the wheel in motion.

We were going away for New Years and so we knew we couldn't pick him up until after the holidays. "Soldier" was transferred to Theresa's No Place Like Home delux doggie day care to be fostered till we got back, but Brian was able to meet our new doggie briefly. He was so, so hungry and very food-focused. We went to Theresa's right after Christmas to meet him and introduce him to Pepper. She opened up the kennel and out came this laughing, but painfully skinny, German shepherd dog. He came right over and was so friendly. He happily went over to Pepper for sniffs. But you know when my heart melted? When Brian and I were standing next to each other talking to Theresa, and all of a sudden there's this large dog wedging himself between us and then leaning on us. He looked up at us with these beautiful almond shaped brown eyes. Brian and I instinctively reached down to pet him and he was so, so sweet. You could see the love and relief in his eyes. His name was changed to "Sagan", in tribute to Carl Sagan.

I wish I had the photo we took of Sagan that day; it's in his scrapbook and I don't have a copy that's convenient, but he was all legs. You could see all of his bones - his ribs, growth plates, spine. No muscle at all. When we took him to the vet he was about 57 lbs.; when he was found I think he was closer to 50 lbs. This is our handsome boy in November, 2006, playing in the snow, all 77 lbs. of fur and love.

He's a real comedian...he's got the funniest sense of humor, and makes us laugh every day. So I bought him the jester's collar for the holidays. He loves belly rubs and often lays across door thresholds or at the bottom of the stairs so you can't get by without paying the "scritch toll". He's extremely smart and we can see now that he's closer to 2, that the training is catching on. When he needs to be on alert or on duty, he is. We've seen him come streaking across the yard, silently, if someone drives into the neighbor's yard. He "helps" me do the laundry. And by "helps" I mean he stands either directly behind me pinning me to the machines, or directly between me and the machines, and tries to get his head into the dryer. He inspects the stuff I'm tossing in there. He leans forward with me as I stretch to get another scoop of detergent for the next load. Then he plops down in the hall, with his big fat fuzzy feet hanging into the laundry room, and I'm trying to shut the door. Then he gets up and escorts me back to the couch. Who said chivalry was dead?
Happy Anniversary little guy! We love you!!!