In Memory of ‘Stonewall’ (VGSR 2307)     23 Aug 2006 – 5 July 2019

            It took a while to get over our last shepherd (the kind of heartbreak GSD owners know so well).   When we were finally ready for another, by happenstance we found you with that ‘Big Orange Head’.   Admittedly we stalked you for a little while, trying to figure out the logistics of bringing you home and waiting on the application process, wondering if you’d still be available by then.  A call from VGSR assured us that you were. Road trip to Manassas Virginia!

            When you bumbled into our home there was no mistaking the new guy.  You asserted yourself by eating momma’s chocolate cake right off the coffee table in one swift gulp and then assumed your rightful favorite spot by the couch --- on the first night.  Oh that innocent smile and those floppy jowls.  You know what you did!!  For the next three and a half years, it would be a family made whole again by your goofy presence and curiosity.  However, we could have done without that speed-dating behavior you showed early on (that was a little awkward sometimes).

            Our introduction was “There is not a mean bone in his body!”  That was absolutely correct.  You were a friend to all you encountered; when you felt like getting up.  With the appropriate scratch of the chest we could make your nose go straight up like a rocket.  Your unique way of kissing a face with your whole mouth (canines included) was a little unsettling to all first encounters,  be we became accustomed to it; mothers of children not so much.  What a goofball.  With zero prey drive, you were an easy guy to manage in our fenceless yard.  Our ‘great stone guardian’ of the back yard, where furry critters bounded around under your watch; with your forelegs crossed of course. The rabbits and squirrels will miss you so.  The ‘silent sentry’ was friend to all passerby even (gulp*) – the postal workers.  By silent we mean you also never barked – at anybody; inside the house or out.  Well except maybe at us once a month or so, just to see if that thing still worked.  You know that could be quite alarming when we weren’t expecting it!

            Our biggest regret was our inability to keep you healthy.  Despite our countless trips to the vet and the dermatologist, the special diets, multiple medications and shots, the best we could do was to calm the big waves.  Every day was a challenge to prevent them from reoccurring.  Rest assured we threw the kitchen sink at those infirmities (we have the bills to prove it); we just could not eliminate them.  How we cleaned those recurrent ear infections - almost every day; and how they hurt you so.  Yet you were so tolerant of all the interventions and the caregiving staffs.  Despite the pain and discomfort, you managed to make us smile until the end; when we just couldn’t see you suffer any longer.  You were such a stoic ol’ boy.

I can’t say we’ll miss those one block/hour walks because you HAD to smell everything everywhere at every step.  “Stonewall you’re killing me man” was what you would have heard had you not lost your hearing.  But your sense of smell saved the day when the neighbor’s house caught on fire.  If not for your big nose and stubborn persistence, no one would have stopped to look up.  Sure enough, there was smoke from the eves of the house. Here is the link:

https://www.cantonrep.com/news/20160215/did-dog-start-canton-kitchen-fire

            We will miss: your big droopy lips (not so much all the water that spilled from them after drinking), your spontaneous gas (just not the odor), the way you used your big head to ram the doors in the house open when you wanted to be wherever we were at every moment -- including the bathroom toilet – (the ‘shower appearances’ could be a little startling however especially to our house guests), and the aforementioned toothy kisses.  It was all just part of your charm.  You were indiscriminately affectionate; warm and friendly without prejudice.  What a great ambassador you were.  We are grateful for your accompaniment on all of our family journeys; sitting on your homemade throne.  We are most grateful for the opportunity to accompany you, on our road trip out west through the Dakotas and Wyoming.  You deserved that!  Laughingly, we lost count of all the times we heard “Is that a wolf?”, “Can we pet your dog?”, “He is so gentle” and (our favorite) “WOW, your dog is ORANGE!”  Stonewall – friend to all.  You were so tolerant.  You weren’t just going to the attractions; you were the attraction!

            Alas our ‘Big Orange Head’ is gone; our hiking companion, our rescuer, our ‘Good Will Ambassador’, our napping buddy, our patient.  You overlook our living room from the mantle now, looking down on your favorite spot.  Though you remain with us in spirit, your massive presence will be forever missed.  You were everything that is good in the soul of a dog.  That you were a German Shepherd Dog made it that much more special.  We didn’t rescue you.  You rescued us!

            We would like to thank Virginia German Shepherd Rescue for trusting us your care in the last years of your life.  We have fulfilled our promise.

Charles & Kumi Day
 

RIP 1/30/08 - 4/12/13
Sunshine was an owner surrender with some medical issues. She passed in her sleep while in foster care.