I had to change the dogs in my signature it's been so long. Vera is now 4 years old, and she was a puppy. Odessa passed at 14. Well, I put her down. She didn't want to get up to eat her food and that was the marker for her. Odie loved to eat and if she wasn't wanting to eat it was time. She was a great dog. I think I put Joy down around the same time. She was 11.

This year I put Kojak down, and Cujo2 bloated -- that was a nightmare. When seconds count the vet is hours away. But he was already ill, and was at the vet the day before because of it. They said if he barfs just don't give him the one med. But I looked at him and said, that looks like bloat. I tried to get a hold of my vet, but it was Saturday, so we got in the car for a 2 hour trip to N. Ridgeville, where they euthanized him. He was 10.5 years. And Bear, I lost her in June too. Shortly after her last pup, Tinuviel, had her first litter. Tinny is 5, will be 6 in February. She had a litter of 12 tiny puppies. 4 didn't make it. I was lucky to get the eight of them to live. I called one of the boys Yogi Bear for his grandmother, but as he went to a new home, I had to find a femaly Y name that tied in the Bear. Yona. Yona is dove in Hebrew, but in Native American it is Bear. Usdi Yona is Baby Bear. So that is her nickname.

It has been a rough year. My W litter was born in January of the year before last I think. One of the pups went to a family that loved him, and did everything with him and he was loved by all the kids in the neighborhood, except the next door neighbors, whose culture considered dogs dirty and dangerous. But as they were seldom there it wasn't a big deal. They poisoned the pup when he as about a year old. A beautiful dog. They couldn't believe that the neighbor would do this. His owner kept the neighbor's driveway plowed. So sad. As things played out, they evidence was overwhelming and they did call in the police and the game warden and the dog warden, so the people did get visits from uniformed officials at their door. There is very little you can do though. Another dog had also bled out, a few doors down, but they were able to get it to the ER in time. The thing is, the story was so kool, the owner always wanted a GSD and was doing some work for my friend, and she got him in touch with me, and their 3 year old girl fell down a couple of times when they were looking at the puppies, and Wojo was the one that kept going over to make sure she was ok. Then after they had the dog, they were over my friend's house having a conversation, and started remembering the same folks, and they are cousins, but did not know it, until they dug into it. So a family was brought together over a puppy. And then the pup was murdered. Last year, Columbo had two litters with a different fiend's bitches, and I got stud fee puppies for them. I also had Covid as they were ready, but I made the decision that these people could choose the first pup. They named him Bruno. They love him and will give him an awesome home. They will never trust their yard with the neighbor next door. I got Eowyn from the next litter, and she turned 1 in June.

They dropped her off when I had the Covid, so I introduced her to all my dog pairs and Bear and Tinny seemed to be the best with her, so I put her in with them. They were awesome. I dragged up a chase lounge and lay outside the kennel and watched them, She has also spent considerable time at my friends' place. I trade my dogs in and out with her, as she uses them to work with folks with developmental challenges. And she likes having them. She hikes with them on her property, and the see a lot of people there, and her grandchildren, who are people, but little people. So it just is beneficial to me too. Kaiah had her litter in August, and I kept Xara out of that, and Teresa kept Xola and calls her Gilly Girl. So we each have one of those youngsters. I figured I would be feeling better soon, and was back to work.

In February Kojak attacked me. I have raised probably 40 some GSDs, in the past 20-30 years, and have never been bitten, except for the couple of dog fights, and Frodo my first GSD who I made all the mistakes with, and he showed a lot of bite inhibition. He was just telling me. The past few years I had gotten down to a much more manageable number of dogs, and was keeping them in pairs, mostly mother-daughter pairs, but that was so much better than keeping them singly in small kennel areas. Kojak was generally kept with Ramona, but I rehomed her to the people that gave Sherry such a good life. He was over 90 pounds, I couldn't lift him. Six years old. Great looking dog. I got to reports of him biting people, I wasn't present, but both had extenuating circumstances. The dog was always awesome with me. I always let him meet folks that came to the house. I pulled a scab off the tip of his ear, it was making the tip go down and was infected. Figured I'd take him in and get a run of antibiotics for him. But of course it was Saturday. It didn't look terrible, it could wait until Monday. The next day it looked a lot better, but a couple of pieces of straw were stuck to it, so I pulled them off, and he attacked. He got me in the abdomen, the chest, and several times in my forearm. I live alone. I was in the kennel with him, and if I did the wrong thing he could have killed me. I knew I had to stay calm. He was clamped onto my arm, I lightened my voice and said, "That's enough, back off." And he did. I was able to get out of the kennel. I went back in for the food bucket and got out again. I fed the rest of the dogs. I was supposed to head over to my sister's to help her daughter with Algebra II so I went to my dad's to see if he could tie up my bloody stump. He said that needed to see a doctor. My arm was twice it's normal size. I had to take care of him for 10 days. My dad didn't want me to go into the kennel with him alone. So I would pull the gates toward me and let him into the hub, and take care of his area and let him back in. I couldn't keep a dog like that. And I couldn't give him away. The vet gave me some pills and I put them in pill pockets and gave them to him, my dad came over with his gun just in case, and I went into his kennel and put a collar on him and then a muzzle and we went to the vet. Did I mention this was a pretty bad year.

Well, I don't know if it was the medicine being upped, or the other medicine, or long covid effects -- that was what I thought it was. That and UTIs which just seem to be all the time. I went into the hospital in March for a kidney stone and infection and got sepsis, and the stone was big, 9mm, but they had to put a stent in there and let the infection drain, before they would address the stone at all. Then I had to go back to have it blasted a couple of times. I was in the hospital for 4 days, the chaplain came to visit me. Sepsis, Chaplain, I was going to die. Actually, I could have. The urologist said he doesn't think I realize how close to death I was from the infection. On top of that was the blood infection. Teresa drove 1.5 hours to come and pick up some of my dogs, she had some, that just left about 4 of the oldest for my brother to feed and water while I was in the hospital. I was out of work for 5 and a half weeks. I have been nauseated every day and taking zofran since the end of March. I think we are down to it being the medication. I mean, I have a lot of medical stuff, like thyroid and diabetes and asthma, blood pressure, I don't get over stuff quickly, and they did several procedures on me. So I just thought it was taking me way too long to heal from all that. Then, I decided I waited long enough, and went to the coroner (my doctor) and she sent me to the gastro-people and they did samples, an upper GI, a colonoscopy, an MRI for the pancreas, and a nuclear scan for my gall bladder. Other than a bunch of polyps, some diverticulosis, and some gastritis, they aren't finding anything. The biopsies on that stuff came back nearly normal. The polyps are some type of endoma that can become cancerous but they are out of there now, so good, do that again in 3 years.

So that is me in a nutshell. Between losing Bear and Cujo2 and even Kojak -- I loved him. I figure there was something seriously wrong. I mean, I've stepped on a dog and broke her toe without her being mad enough to snarl at me. I have bandaged wounds, and rebandaged wounds. I have dug in ears, and put medicines that the dogs did not like in ears and sometimes in eyes. I have put my fingers where fingers should never go to help bitches not lose progress when whelping a large, reluctant pup. I don't really expect them to like it when I have to do something unpleasant, but I don't expect them to eat me. A little more than a month ago, Eowyn got kicked by a horse, and has lost her eye. It's been an awful year. But she is otherwise fine, and happy, and lovey. What a sweet dog. Teresa is taking care of me, because she could keep her from bothering it while I was at work. She would have had to be in a crate for a minimum of 10 hours a day, and so I let her keep her for now. She feels terrible because the dog got into her horses there. But I told her that she could have lost an eye running in the woods or playing with a tennis ball. It is just an accident. A costly accident.

So that is the book, thank you for reading. It will take a little time for me to catch up with folks. Thanks for the birthday greetings.

I'm so sorry for all you have been through this year, it's monumental to say the least. I don't know where to begin except to wish you good health for yourself and your pups. Please take care of yourself and thank you for all the updates.

Wow-trial upon trial and you're still working and working with your dogs. Both your many losses and your determination are really impressive.

Thanks for the updates and post when you can.

MJ

Thank you, yes, things have been crazy. I have had some wonderful dogs. Jenna almost made it to 13, Babsy almost 14, Heidi and Bear over 13. And Odessa was 14. I lost most of the others between 10 and 12, except I lost Mufasa at 2.5 and when I lost Quinnie at 3.5 from the oral cancer, right before Babsy in that terrible year where I lost Jenna, Milla, Ninja, and rehomed Lassie. I suppose when you have a bunch of dogs you'll go through periods of extended grief.

But having dogs is so much more than losing them. The reason it hurts so much to lose them is because having them is such a (there is not one word, maybe awesome, wonderful, and fullfilling and that doesn't sum it up) experience. I can't let the pain of loss trump the beauty of their lives.

I love having them, but right now, I love what they do for other people. I have a puppy out there that has been trained to alert if the child with CF has a breathing issue in the night. Another dog I rehomed at three was the reason her teenager didn't succomb to depression, she said she did not want to leave Nikki behind. I got a boy out there pulling the pants off of bad guys and biting them and getting drugs off the streets. I have so many stories, Bullet, let's talk about Bullet, he was ten months old and got an injury at my house where there were tendons showing. I rushed him to the vet and for a week, I had him rebandaged there daily. Then he started going for the bandage, and I went two hours away to have him bandaged at the ER that was open. That was near my friend's house and she told me to bring him there. I did. She could take care of him during the day and take him every other day to get re-bandaged. They thought he might lose the leg. But an elderly retired couple told her they would take him and that dog has his leg and you would never know that he had that injury. He alerted in the night when the fellow had a heart attack and they say he saved his life.

I have a lady out there, the only littermates I homed together and not at the same time. She has Ozzie and Otis, but calls the Tyson and Zeus. I have watched them grow up with her son through pictures and videos over Facebook. Another lady who had two of my dogs, keeps Columbo for me sometimes and now she has another of my dogs. They send me pictures and videos of the dogs. I have made such good friends through the dogs.

Columbo. Columbo wins friends and influences people wherever he goes. My mom says that if I die, he can come live there. Teresa jokes that she has to kill me and my mom to get him. LOL. Elise would take him in a heartbeat. Lou's wife said she'd keep him. I have to share him. Now Teresa says I have to share Eowyn because she has stolen her heart. When I was worried about my pancreas, I told her that she has to take Eowyn because she might not fare well in a shelter, not everyone would take on a dog with one eye. She said that dog isn't going anywhere, she'd rehome Gilly (her pup out of Kaiah) before letting her go. Teresa will take care of finding my remaining dogs homes if I die, and that was set up a couple of years ago.

Right now I have mostly pairs:
Hepzibah (11.5) is in with Eowyn (1) when she is home.
Karma (10.8) is in with her daughter, Vera (4)
Tinuviel (5.8) is in with her pups, Yakira, Yuki, and Yona (Currently Teresa has Yuki and Yona) Yuki has a home come December.
Uzi (5) is in with Columbo (3) -- Uzi is timid. She has Babsy eyes. I love her, but wouldn't breed her. I got her spayed so Columbo can be with her.
Kaiah (5) is in with her daughter, Xara (1).

Dogs aren't my whole life, but they make my life whole.

This morning I let Yakira run with Columbo, Uzi, Karma, Vera, and Hepzibah. I let her play with the big dogs. I put everyone back where they are supposed to be, and went into the house and leaned over the x-pen and rubbed her all over. I told her she is worth a million bucks. But I lied. They are all worth a hundred million.