My First German Shepherd

My personal story is a sad one. We had two dogs, Socks and Athena. They were both German Shepherd mixes. One day at age 4 ½ Athena suddenly was very lethargic one morning. We immediately took her to the vet. They diagnosed her with Auto-immune Hemolytic Anemia, which is very life threatening. They told us that if she could survive the next two weeks while going through treatment, then she would survive. We authorized the treatment, but unfortunately after only three days her body gave out and she passed away.

My husband and I were devastated; we decided immediately that we weren’t going to get another dog. We still had Socks which was Athena’s true brother because they were litter mates. However, our dog Socks was absolutely devastated. I had heard that animals will grieve a loss, but I had never witnessed it personally. I had never seen Socks like that before, and we realized very quickly that we needed to get another dog as a companion for Socks to help him through his grieving for the loss of Athena, if we wanted him to survive. I was so worried that Socks was literally willing himself to die, and I could not bear the loss of another pet.

This was so hard on us because we were grieving and didn’t feel like we were ready yet, but we had to do what was best for our canine son Socks. We immediately started researching several different breeds of dogs to see which would be best for Socks and our lifestyle. After a ton of research we decided on a German Shepherd.

Long story short that is how we got Vegas. We decided on a puppy because they have so much more energy and we felt that would be best to help Socks. Well Vegas did the trick. Socks was a little irritated at first at having a new puppy in the house, but within no time they were inseparable. Getting Vegas also helped my husband and I heal from the loss of Athena.

This is how our first purebred German Shepherd came into our lives. Socks unfortunately past away almost three years ago, at 1 week before his twelfth birthday. However Vegas is still with us today. She is now 10 ½ years old and is doing fantastic.

Now that you know my story of how I got my first German Shepherd, what is your story? How did you get your first German Shepherd? Please share your story in the comment section below.

For more great stories, fun, and information regarding GSD’s, check out the rest of my German Shepherd Blog.