When introduced to the household, my son’s second rescue German Shepherd Harry was a cranky animal, and unfriendly to my son’s lovely old three-legged Kelpie, whose time was short. Harry was introduced into the family so their other German Shepherd Zigfreid wouldn’t be too lonely when the Kelpie’s time came.
Zigfried, a gentle animal, quietly defended the Kelpie until Harry learned his place. Love and care softened Harry’s behavior, but after a couple of years, my son discovered Hamish had been hiding leg bone cancer with part of the bone missing in a foreleg. He hid his pain and managed not to walk with a limp…but the x-ray horrified us all. The vet determined that Harry wouldn’t cope well with a missing foreleg if amputated.
My son and his wife worried for Zig, concerned that he would lose his second companion, withing a relatively short period. Therefore they checked the possibility of a German shepherd rescue puppy, but feared to bring him home in case Harry became aggressive with the newcomer.
What happened was very different. The pup was already several months old, after a cruel start to life, found abandoned and alone and sick at only a few weeks old.
After much debate (worrying also about the pup, who needed a good home quickly) they brought the puppy home.
Harry adopted the pup immediately, wouldn’t let him out of his sight, licked him clean when he ate, generally acting like a mother. This attentiveness was a strain on Harry in that his leg-pain increased suddenly to a degree that he had to be taken on his final visit to the vet.
My son and his wife, and all of us where overwhelmed by Harry’s unselfish and loving response to the pup, and though his attention to the pup, and following the around everywhere, not letting him out of his sight, hastened Harry’s end
This extraordinarily beautiful behavior softened the blow of loss, (a little) as Harry, having overcome his early aggressiveness, acted way above what anyone might expect of a dying dog.
the worm was NOT blooming…
