Our little Stormy left us yesterday, and ventured across the rainbow bridge. Thankfully she went peacefully at home and surrounded by both myself and my husband. She had gotten on the bed, sighed, and then was gone in seconds. We are grateful that at almost 12, and having to deal with the cancer that was deteriorating her body, she passed away at home. She had spent the last two days pretty perky and playing all her favorite games.
A previous owner had put the SchH3 and WD3 titles on Stormy. Then lost interest in Stormy's well being for three years after retiring her from the sport. Finally, Doberman Rescue Unlimited was contacted and asked if they would take her. My friend, Alissa, was involved with her intake and kept her during her recovery period (she came with medical issues that needed to be addressed) so she would not need to recover in the shelter (although just to let you know DRU is about the best shelter I know of, and the dogs get great attention if they need to stay there).
I stalked my friend's Facebook page while Stormy recovered. Something pulled me toward her. Then when we met her at that year's open house in June of 2012, the gears started in motion for her to come live with us.
Live she did. I considered it my job not to provide a place for her to die, but for her to live out the rest of her life well loved and filled with adventure that she had been previously denied for those three years. It took a little time for her to trust us, but not for her to love us:) We all fell in love and bonded quickly. She had been trained previously to not be on the furniture. Since she was a senior and needed cushy places (and we have a family dog room specifically for this sort of thing) I gave her the place command onto furniture until she knew that she was in fact welcome to use these things. Then she delighted and expected nothing less LOL.
She came here a bit nervous about strange dogs, and left here with many many canine friends who loved her. In particular our own Boris, Tommy, Ziggy, and Dudley; were all very very good buddies.
In my car, I never had to worry about being car jacked or surprised about someone walking up to my car. She saw this as her job to alert, and took it seriously.
In general, she was the most busy dog here despite her age. All the young dogs would be asleep after a day of play, and Stormy would still be looking for action. I would give it to her. She was so strong in spirit and determination.
Stormy has inspired me to take better care of myself physically. I was like "if Stormy can get up and make it a great day, well certainly I can give myself the gift of getting healthier myself".
She was brave, loving, loyal, smart, and my great canine companion for almost a year. We were honored that she came here to stay with us.
I found this blurb about her online:
"2007 DPCA NATIONAL HIGH PROTECTION,,2007 UDC NATIONAL IPO1 CHAMPION, ,2007 UDC NATIONAL HIGH IN TRACKING, ,2006 USA NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL SCHUTZHUND 1 CHAMPION,
Stormy earns her SchH1 in the cold, driving rain at the 2006 New England Regionals.She was SchH1 Champion and got the highest protection score in the entire trial. "
What a dog working and what a dog just loving life and her family. We will always remember and love her.
Stormy run free and proud!
1 comment:
I should also mention that Stormy had a whole team behind her, including her breeder, her many friends at DRU, and Fremont Animal Hospital.
She was very very loved.
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