Sad News

My husband and I adopted Benny on a cold, snowy day in Pennsylvania in Jan 2010. He lovingly welcomed our son home 7 months later. Since then and for 12 years, Benny has been family. We are so heartbroken.  Benny has been the pillar of strength and health until last year when he was diagnosed with kidney disease and then degenerative myelopathy.  With a special diet and exercise, he's had a wonderful year. Covid gifted us all the benefit of lots of time together. He kept an eye on each of us even at home... always knowing what was going on and where we all were. Benny was fiercely loyal and protective, but so loving, too. We really, really miss you, big boy.  Thank you MAGSR for all that you do and for sharing beautiful Benny with us.

Our beautiful girl, Bella, passed away yesterday.  She fought a hard battle with her cancer and gave us four extra months with her.  We noticed her slowing down over the weekend and thought there was an infection.  She was given antibiotics and it seemed to help, but she was still clearly not well.  Then Wednesday she seemed to rally and for one perfect, beautiful day, she was our bouncy, sassy, rambunctious puppy again.  She chased Indy around the yard and visited with out neighbors, and absolutely lit up when her mama got home from work.  It was a truly perfect day.  But then midday yesterday, she came into my office to get me, laid down, and wouldn't get back up again; she was telling me she was ready to go.  I called my wife home from work and we took her to Bluepearl Pet Hospital in Rockville, MD where they diagnosed her with bleeding into her abdomen, that her cancer was back and had ruptured.  Even if they'd tried surgery, it would've been unlikely to assist, with low or no chance of significant recovery. My wife and I made the incredibly painful decision to let her rest, and the staff took care of everything else.  We were in the room with her as she passed, my wife rubbed Bella's back and I knelt with my forehead pressed to Bella's, the same way we always said goodnight to each other the last four years.  She passed peacfully and without pain.

Our beloved Juliet passed away on the 16th of January. She had been battling several health issues. After so many trips to the vet and specialists her body couldn’t take anymore. We’re devastated, and the house feels empty without her around. We adopted Juliet along with her brother Romeo in February of 2018. Juliet always led the way on all of our adventures. She was the first to jump in the car, and the first to find the mud on our hikes. She had the sweetest disposition, and weathered every storm in life with the same wagging tail and bright eyes. She could play rough with her bigger brother, and sprint so fast after her favorite toy. We feel fortunate that we could spend all day every day with her these last couple years. We will always treasure the special moments with her in our hearts, and she will live forever in our memories. Thank you for bringing her into our lives.

Our beloved Tyler had to be put to rest today, by his regular vet. He has had many health challenges, each able to be overcome with love, patience, and care – but the hardest blow was his degenerative myeloma. As I’m sure you know, there is no treatment or cure, and the progressive symptoms only continue to worsen as time goes on. Having lost the use of both his back legs, and developing other problems and injuries as a result, we were able to manage his condition as long as possible with harness systems and lifestyle changes (even looked into a wheeled aid, but that didn’t work out), it got to the point that a decision had to be made. What makes this disease so especially evil is that the dog remains sharp and healthy of mind, but does not comprehend why his body no longer works. I wish more could be done to stop breeders from perpetuating this horrible genetic illness! Anyway, I just wanted to let you know. I’m so grateful that I had Tyler in my life for four wonderful years, and will miss him the rest of my life. I like to think that I did as much for him as he did for me, though I’m not sure I can measure up to that. I’m grateful to MAGSR for allowing us to adopt him and give him a loving home. I’m attaching some files, I hope they are not too terribly large. The PDF is a small tribute I made for my dear friend. It doesn’t say half as much as I’d like to say, or contain half as many pictures as I’d like to include, but I think it helps capture his life with us and the journey we had together. All the best,
Dave Crout

Good evening all, sadly writing to inform you of Atlas’s passing. We adopted Atlas in January of 2007 at the age of two, yes 2007! He has been an absolute model of perfect health up until last year when old age caught up with him. He was truly a kind soul filled with love and affection for everyone he met. We tried our best to spoil him in every way possible and treat him with the love he showed us. Our hearts are broken but we know we have given him the best life possible. Thank you for introducing us to him so many years, we are blessed. 

Hello,

It is with deep sorrow and the worst hurt in my heart, that I reach out to you to inform you that our sweet Frankie (formerly known as Gypsy- adopted in March 2018), lost her battle to Lymphoma today. She was diagnosed with Lymphoma in May 2021– we had called MAGSR back in May to inform the rescue but never received a phone call or email communication back.

My husband, Michael Shaffer, and I took every possible Avenue that we could to help our sweet Frankie. We worked closely with Dr. Stacie Binstock, canine oncologist, at Lancaster Veterinary Services. Frankie underwent chemotherapy starting in May, but only had a short remission. We attempted two other chemotherapy drugs, but neither of them proved successful for remission. The Lymphoma grew resistant to the treatments we attempted.

I cannot begin to express how much my heart hurts, but I am proud to say that heaven welcomed one of the best four-legged angels it could ask for. Our sweet Frankie lost her battle to cancer today. Even though she was with us for three short years, she has changed us for a lifetime. We will continue to love her and cherish our time and memories of her for the rest of our lives. We are so blessed that we were chosen to be her human parents— she came to us when we least expected it, and it was divine intervention, in my mind, that we were brought together. We didn’t want to let go today, but she knew that she was not alone and that we were with her in every moment. While this quarantine has not been ideal for anyone, it was a blessing for us that we got to spend these last two years at home with Frankie, loving and cuddling her when she needed us most! We will always love her, forever and always! Until we meet again, sweet Frankie Bean!

If you could please notify the other family’s of Frankie’s litter mates that she passed from Lymphoma, and that they, too, should be aware and cognizant of their pups’s health, we would be most appreciative!

Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions or concerns. We hope to adopt from MAGSR again in the future. While we’re obviously not ready now, if there is any information you can provide regarding how previous adopters can should start this process again, please share with us.

Thank you!
Kindly,
Brittany and Michael Shaffer

Dear MAGSR I wanted to write and let you know of Kobe’s passing on December 23, 2021 due to a brain tumor.    When we adopted Kobe from MAGSR, his name was Kent, but we renamed him on our first day home seven years ago.  Kobe lit up our lives and completed our family.  He was the picture of health and full of energy up until about a week and a half before his death when he started showing symptoms of vestibular disease.  Both his vet, and then the neurology specialist we took Kobe to see, treated him with antibiotics for a middle ear infection, but Kobe’s decline was so rapid and so extreme that we took him to emergency critical care.  An MRI revealed the aggressive brain tumor which took him from us later that night. Kobe was the mayor of our neighborhood.  My family and I enjoyed long walks with Kobe, and he easily trekked 3-4 miles each day, between the walks my husband, my two boys and I took with him separately.  Young children would come running to him as we passed their houses, yelling, “Kobe, it’s Kobe!”  They would hug him and kiss him, and he was the gentlest giant with everyone who touched him.  Kobe loved to play with other dogs too, and other dog owners would drop by so their furry friends could play inside our fence with him. We are heartbroken to have lost Kobe, and I will be forever grateful to the kind and loving people at MAGSR who introduced Kobe to our family in November, 2014.  I have attached a picture from last winter of our beautiful boy. Thank you, MAGSR, for the wonderful and very important work you do. The Harper Family

I wanted to let you know that my dog Keena (aka Topaz) adopted 11/11/06 passed away today.  She was a great dog and I want to thank your organization for allowing her to become part of my family.

Dear MAGSR,

We wanted to let you know that our beloved Bailey (MAGSR tag 5277) died after eating some dark false mussels.  We did not know that these mussels are highly toxic to dogs, causing acute liver failure.  We recently brought a boat into our yard, which had tiny mussels stuck to the bottom, and apparently Bailey crawled under the boat and scraped off and ate a large section of mussels.  We pieced together what happened only once he got sick and we found the tiny shells in his poop.  He spent two days in intensive care at Catonsville ER, and the vets did everything they could to save him, but the damage to his liver was too severe.  He was only 6 years old, still full of joy and ball-chasing energy, and we are completely crushed by his death.

We hope that you will help to raise awareness of the danger that these mussels pose to dogs.  (Ask potential adopters about boats?)  We never would have brought a boat into our yard if we had known.  The boat is now gone, and thankfully our other MAGSR dog (Sweet Pea - adopted in 2013?) did not eat any mussels.  She is grieving for her partner but is otherwise in great shape.

Here’s a link to a Maryland DNR health alert about the mussels: https://dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/Documents/Dog-Health-Alert.pdf

It’s unclear exactly what in the mussels is so toxic to dogs.  The ER vet asked to have a necropsy done on Bailey, with the hope of shedding some light on the problem, so we donated his body to DNR and the veterinary pathology group at Johns Hopkins. 

Best wishes,
Bailey’s mom and dad

We are sad to report of the passing of our shepherd, Jack Shannon, on November 4, 2021.   We adopted Jack back in November of 2013 and while he survived emergency surgery for bloat he was unable to overcome the combined effects of arthritis and degenerative myelopathy.   He was a big boy with a big heart and an even bigger personality.  We lived by the motto that “a good dog is a tired dog” and we spent a good portion of our day trying to wear him out.  Whether it was playing ball, playing in the snow, sledding, early morning walks, weed fun or hose fun he was always down for a good time.   More than anything though he loved his people and he will be sorely missed by all of us.   The Witek’s

Lexi crossed the rainbow bridge on Wednesday. I'm heartbroken because she was my best friend, but I wanted to write a note in her honor and just let you know of her passing. Lexi was my instant soul mate, and after a bit of a rough start with the dog we already had at the time, she settled in with her brother and they truly loved each other. While she wasn't fond of many other dogs, she had so many human best friends, and I loved walking her down the street because people always stopped in awe of how beautiful and wolf-like she was. She was also silly and very smart (much smarter than her brother). I would laugh when she wanted a toy that he had, so she pretended to be interested in another one just to trick him into dropping what he had to go for it, while she got the original. I'm enclosing some of my favorite photos of her and her brother Titan (both gone within 6 months of each other from cancer). I’m a photographer and she even got to model in a few photo shoots (she always snuck in). I am so grateful for the time I got to spend with Lexi in her senior years. I can't imagine my house without a dog in it and may be interested in fostering soon, something I've done in the past. Warmly, Nikki

Our Tanner came into our lives in November 2017.
He died of bloat while we were away which makes it that much harder to process.
We weren’t with him.
 
He was the most loyal, obedient dog we have ever loved.
He melted our hearts everyday he was with us! “Dogs are not our whole life but they make our lives whole!"

Hollie passed away unexpectedly early this morning from a probable ruptured hemangiosarcoma. She was such a wonderful dog and companion since the day we welcomed her into our family. Thank you to Mid-Atlantic German Shepherd Rescue and Nicole Cox for bringing her into our hearts six years ago. She'll be there forever.

I am sad to be writing this email to you today.  Camden fell ill this week and passed away on Sunday morning.  I wanted to thank Ed for introducing Camden to me on an early Sunday morning.  He started out as a foster and then became our pup with the help of Candi.  Camden loved Candi when at the kennel.  Once Camden recovered from Heartworm treatments he settled into our family.  I honestly do not know what we did to deserve such a wonderful dog.  Camden was patient with foster dogs (most of them) and with the craziness in our household.  The past two years have been challenging with losing parents and grandparents.  I feel that he helped our family survive through this difficult and challenging time.  Losing a dog is very hard but the time with them will always be cherished.  I will miss our early morning walks, him going to work with mommy in the office, spending time walking the yard, and waiting for the kids to finish swim team practice. I attached a photo of Camden at the beach and this is how I will remember him. Watching the ghost crabs and the sunrise at the beach.  Reminding me that tomorrow is going to be a great day and to take advantage of the time we have with family and fur companions.

We wanted to let you know that today, our angel puppy grew his wings. Bear (aka, little Bear, Baby Bear, Pacifier, Frosty Paws, Wiggles, Fluff Butt) was special from the beginning. He had a magic about him that brought everyone human or fluffy joy and comfort. Over the past 10 years in our home, Bear welcomed countless foster dogs, he provided comfort and joy to 6 foster children, he joined us in celebrations, he stayed close when we struggled, and he brought endless smiles to family, friends, and people in the community. His wiggles, patience, and presence are already beyond missed in our home. Bear, we know that Kenya, Maggie, Izzy Bee, and Hyde are looking after you on the bridge. Know that you took a piece of our hearts with you.  You are loved. Fly high baby boy, until we meet again.
-Kate, Will, Ally, Nugget, & Hiccup