Cody was surrendered by his family of 11 years for evidently being too much trouble. It was evidently too much trouble during the last 11 years to consider getting him neutered, updating any vaccines, or keeping him on heartworm preventative. Cody's first vet visit in just as many years revealed the devastating news: Cody is heartworm positive, and likely has been for awhile. He also has lyme disease. Such a pity that both diseases are life-threatening and are virtually preventable by using monthly preventatives. In a way, Cody is lucky his family decided he was too much trouble, as the vet care he's now receiving is likely saving - or prolonging his life. Fortunately nobody bothered to mention to Cody that he's 11 years old and/or is a sick dog. Everyone that meets him thinks he's much younger. He is very active and loves to play with tennis balls. Only don't let him lose track of his tennis ball, or else he'll bark incessantly at whatever piece of furniture it's rolled under! Most of the time though, he's hardly noticeable, even though he's a big guy at roughly 95 lbs. Cody is trusted loose in the home 24/7, and is currently living with several other large dogs, and a small herd of cats. Occasionally Cody gets a bit overzealous about paying too much attention to the cats, but he's no threat to them either. He's made it through his first round of heartworm treatment with only an occasional cough. He goes in for his second treatment later this month. He's halfway through his antibiotics for lyme disease. Four months after treatment for the heartworms, he'll be rechecked to make sure he's cured, and then we'll have a serious talk with our vets about whether we should consider neutering him. At first, he had a tendency to mark (urine) his territory in the house, but he's gotten better with that, although we do sometimes use a belly band to discourage marking in the house. If he's able to be neutered, it's likely this behavior will stop. Cody could go to an adoptive home at any point after his second treatment later this month, with the understanding that he needs to be retested and possibly neutered in the future. Please check out our web site at www.shepherdrescue.org for more information about our dogs, our adoption process and to download an application. You must have a fully approved application on file prior to privately meeting our dogs. We do not have a facility, all our dogs are housed in private foster homes throughout MD/DC/VA areas. More information available on our web site, so please read through our web site before emailing questions, as it might save us both some time! VGSR can only adopt dogs out in the Virginia/Maryland/DC area, no exceptions. Although donations of all types are needed, our primary need is foster homes for our lovely dogs while they wait for their new family to find them. Fostering is an extremely rewarding experience. Vet care is paid for by our rescue, and we can even provide you with food. All YOU need to add is love and security. The adoption process starts with the applicant filling out the adoption application. This can happen at any time during the process, before or after having met a GSD that might be the ideal companion. (It's an advantage to have a pre-approved application on file with VGSR. It should be stressed here that being pre-approved does not mean that any potential adopter can select any available dog at will and take that dog home immediately. VGSR will exercise its best judgement as to which GSD will be the best match for that specific adopter based on a number of qualifying criteria. Many GSDs that come to us are matched up with their new people very quickly because their people have been pre-approved.) The applicant then submits the application form with a non-refundable $10.00 processing fee. VGSR reviews the application, then schedules an interview and home visit during which a number of questions are asked and the home is reviewed to be sure there is a contained/safe yard, and to meet the family involved. Once the application is approved, the applicant is asked to submit a $250.00 donation to VGSR, and the adoption is completed.