Sad News

I am sending MAGSR this message to let your organization know of the passing of Tucker.  We adopted Tuck on 11/24/2012 as 5 month old pup that had a tough start.  He was always full of energy and was always ready to play with us.  Tucker had never had any health issues or showed signs of not being 100% until October 30 when he refused to eat dinner and then on Oct 31 did not eat morning food and would not even take treats.  We took him to our Vet, Cabin Creek Animal, where he was x-rayed and blood work completed.  He was bleeding internally. We then took him to PetsER in Salisbury where the bleeding was confirmed along with cancer that had started spreading.  He was extremely weak and unable to continue, so we made the decision to not let him suffer any more.    We miss him, he was so much a part of our lives.  It is always so good to hear of the good the MAGSR does, and Tucker was the 4th GSD we had adopted from MAGSR.     Tucker had a AKC Star Medal for training. Thank you to MAGSR for allowing us to care for Tucker for 7 years.

I wish I could express how grateful I am for Riddick being in my life.  Thank you so much for matching us with Riddick. The joy and love that he has brought to me has been unimaginable.  He was the perfect fit for my small family.  I am so glad I could rescue him and provide him with a loving and active environment.  He was so gentle, yet full of energy.  We enjoyed teaching him how to swim and our family vacation adventures with him.  I loved how liked to show off his tricks – catching the ball, hiking, having no accidents in the house, winning at tug-a-war.  It was fun to watch him go insane trying to put our oversized ball in his mouth.  There was no toy that he couldn’t figure out how to take apart and destroy, yet he never chewed on anything in the house. He was so smart.  He was such a faithful companion and loved our hiking time. Although he was almost 10, we had gone for our normal weekly 5 mile hike late September.  A month later, he succumbed to cancer.  Joe and I took him to his favorite place – Great Falls and spent some time with him before we had to say goodbye forever.  It was a perfect Fall day for all of us to reminisce over the last 7 years. It has been three weeks now and I am still bawling my eyes out.  I miss him so much.  Again, thank you for introducing Riddick in our lives.  Joe knew right away he was the dog for us.  I wasn’t so sure, but glad I took the risk. Rebecca DePrez

We are writing to share sad news. Our Camden who we adopted in 2012 was put to sleep tonight. This morning he was happy and chasing treats but late this afternoon he had labored breathing so we took him to emergency vet. The vet believes he had a Hemangiosarcoma; We had x-rays done to confirm what the vet believed. Though we are devastated, I am happy that it was very sudden so he was not in pain long. He brought us tremendous joy and will be missed so much.

I am very sad to inform you that my beloved dog Sammy left my side on August 18, 2019. I adopted him from MAGSR in October of 2010. He had just arrived at the kennel that very day. You named him Samson because he was so incredibly strong. Sammy was the light of my life and he brought me so much joy. He died from hemangiosarcoma. Know that I did everything medically to assist him. Today rather than speak of his illness I prefer to tell you the first of many of his stories. I came to your kennel that day in October 2019 thinking I might find a friend or maybe a dog that needs to be fostered. Anyway I went through every dog you had in the kennel and none seemed to be “the one”. The person showing us the dogs stated there was one more dog that just arrived and did I want to see him. I said no but my niece said yes so the person helping us ran off to get the new dog the last one to see. Out comes a large beautiful black and red German Shepherd just like my last two dogs. I walked him around the grass area through the trees checking him out. I tested him to see if he would follow my lead and he did. The woman came back and asked me if I wanted to adopt him and I said no but my niece said yes. Then the woman asked if I would like her to put him in the kennel down the hill to see again later. I said no but my niece said yes. So she put him down the hill in the outside kennel for us. As the end of the day approached, the woman came back and asked if we wanted to see Sammy again I said no but my niece said yes and off she went to get the dog. My niece is an animal person and knew me and my past dogs very well. She knew something I didn’t that day but Sammy made the decision on his own. I walked him around again with all the other people watching. They were ready to make a run for him as soon as I gave him back. He would not have lasted the rest of the day at the kennel. As I was walking him, he abruptly came to a stop and stared hard into my eyes then turned his head and stared into my niece’s eyes. After staring at us for quite a while he pulled me across the grass area toward the kennel so I let him lead me curious about why. He then made a sharp right turn and went into the parking lot. He went car to car up to the top of the lot until he found my car and he jumped up on it. He refused to leave my car-- he wanted to get inside. Finally, I got him back to the grassy area and he would no longer walk or do anything he just kept pulling me toward the fence separating the parking lot and the grass area. He had positioned himself in direct line with my car on the other side of the fence. So, I told the lady if she could get him a bath I would take him home. After his bath we saw him at the bottom of the hill just staring up at us. He was happy and absolutely knew he was going with us. I was given his leash and Sampson became Sammy as he moved to my side where he remained for the rest of his life. I loved him dearly and miss him horribly. I was so lucky he picked me that day. Thank you for such a wonderful dog.

We are sad to inform you that we lost our beloved MAGSR dog, Mercedes. She passed away on Monday morning    Our hearts are broken but we are thankful for the five wonderful years of fun and love we had with her. We adopted her from MAGSR over 5 years ago.  She was the love of our lives.  We will miss her.  Joe and Jodi McCarthy

It is with broken heart that I write to you today to advise of the passing of our beloved Ginger.  We adopted her by her MAGSR name of Canela on April 3, 2009 when she was about 9 months old.  She was a loving part of our family.  We named her Ginger because of her coloring and we kept Canela as her middle name.  She was always glad to see her family when they would arrive home from work or school.  She loved running and playing but when it was time to go to bed a simple “are you ready to go night night” and she would grab a toy and go straight to our room.  She was a constant companion and was always at someone’s side.  Her passing will leave a great void in all of our hearts. Ginger, unfortunately was not with us as long as we were hoping, but her health declined sharply over the last month.  She lost function in her back legs and her spleen was very swollen.  The vet had her on Prednisone, a pain killer and two different antibiotics over the past month.  Unfortunately she continued to lose weight and the vet advised that putting her down was probably best.  Thank You MAGSR for bringing us together. Sincerely, Russell Lee

I am so sad to say that our beautiful Chancellor E. DeFeo passed away yesterday at home. He was taken from us way too soon and unexpectedly. He wasn’t feeling well the past three weeks and after two rounds of bloodwork and multiple xrays and other tests, we had him scheduled for an ultrasound for this coming Monday. But he collapsed at home and died in our arms, we still do not know exactly what was wrong but the veterinarian assumed a tumor of some sort. We are devastated. We adopted him July 2010 from you. Thank you for all that you do and for allowing us the joy of having Chancellor for these past 9 years.

   It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that Hartley went to the Rainbow Bridge last Friday after battling with Neuropathy for the last year. Hartley was a kind and gentle soul who gave us so much love and his life was cut far to short.  We only had him for about six short years but those years were packed full of love and joy and we will never forget him.  It was with his special and kind nature and love that he filled our hearts which great memories that will live with us forever.  I have a few pictures of our special boy that I'd like to share and want to thank MAGSR for the opportunity to adopt such a wonderful dog. 

Dear All: It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that we had to let our beautiful Dini (FKA Neecy) go on June 6, 2019. We adopted her September 6, 2006 and she came home with us on the 12th. She was challenging, smart and a wonderful companion. At over 14 years of age, DM and seizures diminished her quality of life and robbed her of her mobility. Of course, we are heartbroken, but satisfied that we gave her the best possible life and let her go with dignity and in her own home: happy, secure and enjoying her favorite treat of ice cream. She was a good girl. Greg Root and Carol Siegel.

In memory of MAGSR alum, Silver, adopted in May 2009. Silver died April 27, 2019 at the ripe old age of 14. A magnificent and majestic friend and guardian. We are grateful to MAGSR for helping us find each other.  

We are heartbroken to inform you that Lily was diagnosed with metastatic and untreatable cancer in March. With medication we were able to have her with us -  and her frail elderly yellow lab companion -  still energetic and happy for 5 weeks or so. We then had to let her go in late April so that she would not suffer. She was only 8 having been born 10/10/10

We had to put our sweet boy Nash down today. He was 15 and gave us 13 wonderful years. Not sure that we will ever get to the point where we will want to replace him but thank all of you who helped us make him a part of our lives. Rene Stein

On March 30th, we lost our sweet girl to cancer. For 9 happy years, she was an important part of our family in ways we could have never imagined when we adopted her. We adopted Sadee after a scary incident with another dog that left our son injured. Due to her kind nature and the way she lovingly protected him, she helped him regain confidence and see dogs for the complicated, wonderful creatures that they are. When I gave birth our daughter about 2 years after Sadee joined our family, she further cemented her "awesome big sister" status by loving on the new baby in the same way that she loved our son. Sadee was a best friend to both of our children- always happy to run around the yard playing with them, and standing watch outside of their bedroom doors if they were asleep. She also became my favorite running partner in the whole world. When I could barely get myself out of bed in the pre-dawn hours, the insistence of her wet nose nudging me until I laced up my shoes would remind me that it was worth getting up early- as a run would reveal foxes to chase, exercise to be had and a sunrise somewhere towards the end. One of my favorite things about our runs was when we would pass another neighborhood exerciser. Sadee drew comments from everyone on her majestic beauty and excellent leash manners! I beamed with pride telling them she was adopted. In this way, I think Sadee was a great ambassador for other shelter dogs. After a long, thankless day at work for my husband or I, Sadee's unwavering and extreme excitement as we walked through the front door could remind us in an instant that things weren't so bad. She was there for us until the end. She fought hard, with characteristic German Shepherd stubbornness against an increasingly sick, hurting body. We can only help she felt how much we loved her. It will take time, but when our hearts are healed, we hope to adopt another dog from MAGSR.

Sadly we had to put our wonderful MAGSR dog to sleep tonight due to serious complications from a fall. Jillian - same name from adoption - was a wonderful blessing to our family for nearly 5 years. She lived a difficult life before being rescued by MAGSR, but finally found her forever home with our family, where she enjoy long walks, car rides, and playing in the snow. While her time with us was shorter than we desired, we will always remember her for being the best friend anyone could ever ask for. She was here when we brought our daughter home from the hospital and their bond was grew stronger from the moment they met. We will miss Jillian!

Indy fka Enzo adopted fall of 2012 was freed from his lymphoma today. We had Indy for over seven years, he was the sweetest dog I’ve ever had. He will be most remembered for his puppy like nature and wary but sweet demeanor.  His brother Duke (fka Luxor also a MAGSR pup), and the rest of the family will miss him dearly! Until we meet again Indy dog!