We adopted Sadie after we were asked to foster.

We fostered Sadie because she needed a home that didn’t have any dogs since she they thought she was dog aggressive after arriving on transport. We were looking to adopt a dog since we had just lost both of our long term dogs in the past year and desperately needed a 4-legged family member.

We had just fostered our first dog Daniella and she was so easy. There was a desperate need for Sadie to be moved because she appeared to be aggressive. She also had some medical issues since she has shattered pelvis/broken leg. I couldn’t say no, even though I wasn’t ready for having a dog that was more than likely going to be with us for a while.

When we picked her up from current temp foster. I was surprised that she was younger than the photos/videos appeared on line. When we started driving home, she talked to us the entire time. My husband and I love a taking dog, we loved her already.

Over the next few weeks, I took her on a few surgical consults because the thought was to amputate her broken right leg and do a hip replacement for the left leg. But one of the surgeons gave us encouraging news—no surgery was going to make her perfect. He encouraged us to get her active to use her leg—make her walk slow to force her to use the leg/hip.

What really sealed it for us, were people on Facebook who never met her giving their opinion of how best to treat her. My husband and I were like ‘no that’s not going to happen.’ People thought she had a lame leg, but she can and does use her shorter leg all the time.

She is not dog aggressive but can be reactive to certain dogs. We have worked with a trainer to correct both her and our behavior. We also socialize her by taking her out in public and get her around other dogs. I admit I’m still hesitant for her to greet other dogs on leash, but she has done well with the ones she has met. She LOVES people and to us that is most important. She also has welcomed foster dogs and puppies into her home. I choose to foster puppies because I’m afraid that other dogs can hurt her leg/hip when they play because she is quite physical.

We did have a setback about 4 months of having her at home with us where we thought we were going to have to amputate when she somehow reinjured her right leg. But through different pain meds and massage, she is still going strong on all 4 legs. We regularly take her hiking...not the steep terrain because it bothers her hips, but the nice wide horse trails that tend to be flatter.  Sadie walks between 3-5 miles daily, most days we don’t realize that her legs aren’t perfect.

Our family absolutely adores her. She doesn’t like to snuggle on the couch, but she does like to rest her head on your feet. She loves to go on car rides—especially if we are getting her a puppiccino from Starbucks.   Fran & Jen Tyson

This is the story of Shadow - one of the earlier dogs rescued by SSR, and how we found him.

Scrolling through Craigslist one day, I saw an ad for a German Shepherd being rehomed for $150. I clicked on the link, and was taken to this photo- which would permanently scar my mind. The ad stated that the owner was moving and could not take the dog, Shadow, with him. Horrified, I called the number listed immediately and told the man on the phone that I would leave my house at that moment and drive two hours to pick her up. He agreed to surrender her to Shenandoah Shepherd Rescue, so I jumped in my car and off I went. It was a cold January day with snow still on the ground from the previous week, and I was racing like a bat out of Hell to get to Shadow.

I got lost two times along the way, both times in the same neighborhood, and both times I stopped to ask for directions. The first time I stopped at a home where a man was outside with his Australian Shepherd. The dog was off leash and came running up to me, sweet as can be. As I pet her, I noticed that more than 1/3 of her fur was matted together and clearly had been for a long time. Angrily, I accepted the directions and moved on. The second time I stopped at a house that had four dogs tied to trees; one near each corner of the home. Two of them were German Shepherds, and all of them looked rather underweight. As it turned out, these people were relatives of the man who had Shadow. They gave me directions and I asked if they would be interested in surrendering any of their dogs to me. They said no, and given that I was in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone signal and no weapon, I didn't push the issue.

When I arrived to Shadow's home, I immediately saw her. Barking incessantly on a chain to the left of the house, skinnier than any dog I had ever seen up until that point. Her nails were almost 2 inches long, she was missing fur in parts of her rear end and tail, and her "shelter" was two boards of plywood leaned up against each other to make a triangle with the ground. Her bucket of water was dirty, and I saw no food. I approached her with kibble, wary that she may end up being aggressive after all of the neglect, but as soon as she smelled the food the barking stopped. I let her eat some, unhooked her chain, put a leash around her neck and brought her to my car. She couldn't jump into the back alone, so I had to lift and put her inside.

I then walked up to the home and knocked on the door. No one answered, and there was no car in sight. I waited for a few minutes and a man in a truck pulled up. He was a seemingly nice man, who told me that he really cared about Shadow and just wanted to see her go to a decent home. I asked him why she was so skinny. He told me that he had tried deworming and feeding her but she just wouldn't gain weight. He also told me that she came to him in that condition 2 years prior, when he bought her from a breeder for $150. He pulled out a ripped off piece of paper that said "Black German Shepherd. $150, sold as is" and then a signature at the bottom.
As we were talking, I heard a commotion in the small fenced area near where Shadow was being chained up. He angrily said, "I have to get rid of that damn puppy. My beagles keep attacking it." Before I even knew what the puppy looked like, I told him to just put it in my car. The man brought out a large hound-type puppy, only a few months old, named Mac and placed him in the back of my car with Shadow. We said our goodbyes and off I went, crying the whole way home.

I got home and immediately bathed the dogs. Mac first, who seemed to be in really good shape apart from a few minor wounds from the Beagles. Then Shadow. At 35 pounds, I could feel every bone in her body. Picking up this 7 year old German Shepherd was easier than picking up a bag of trash. her face was sunken in, and her nails were so long that they were beginning to curve to the sides. I sobbed as I bathed her, because if it hadn't been for my ability to feel her breath, I would have thought I was bathing a skeleton. All the same, she sat calmly in the tub, enjoying the company and warmth of the water. After her bath I wrapped her up in a towel, sat on the couch with her completely fitting on my lap, and let her have a coconut ice pop.

The veterinary appointment the next day revealed that Shadow had hookworms so severe they had traveled up to her lungs. They were stealing all of the nutrients from her body, which was why no matter how much she ate, she continued to decay. Amazingly, after living outside for years, she was heartworm negative. Shadow was started on an aggressive deworming treatment, which would last over 6 months before finally being delcared worm-free. She was also placed on a regimen of supplements, mainly donated from companies who saw her story and wanted to help.

Mac, being a non-Shepherd, was transferred to another local rescue and after a few weeks, was adopted. Shadow remained with me during this time as I worked to get her as healthy as possible, and looked for an adopter capable of caring for her as much as I did. That adopter came, and when I brought Shadow to her home for a meet, I knew there could not be a better home for her. Not only was she happy, but the adopter was home all the time and able to feed her frequent small meals, keep up with vet appointments, and spoil her rotten. I left Shadow with the family, and for the first time since I had seen her face, I cried happy tears for my sweet girl.

Flash forward 1 year: Shadow is a beautiful, happy, worm free dog weighing in at over 80 pounds. She loves to swim, loves to go for walks, and after 7 years of neglect and abuse, will never hurt or starve again. Shadow's adopter also adopted Reeses, another local dog who came to us severely emaciated. Reeses was diagnosed with EPI, meaning she lacks the proper digestive enzymes and derives no nutrients from her food. She requires a special enzyme powder mixed into her food before every meal so that it can begin breaking down on its own. Reeses, with her new medication, has also gained over 30 pounds and is a beautiful, healthy 5 year old dog who enjoys her days swimming and walking with Shadow.

I now check Craigslist regularly, waiting to find my next severe neglect case, and wondering how many dogs I never saw who didn't make it. Hundreds of people drove past Shadow on that chain in the 2 years she sat there, and no one said a word. She was half dead when I found her, and would not have lasted much longer without the vetting she needed. If you see an animal being neglected or abused, say something. You could very well save their lives.

We were asked to temp foster Sadie shortly after she arrived from Texas. It didn't take us long to fall in love with her....we knew by the time we arrived home, maybe before we made it on I-66. She talked to us the entire ride home. How did Sadie know that we had a soft spot for talking pups?

Sadie was definitely not one of the dogs we were thinking of adopting. After recently losing the second of our family dogs to cancer, we were not looking for a dog that had special medical needs.  Based on her x-rays it looks like Sadie had been hit by a vehicle when she was under a year old that left her with broken leg that is several inches shorter than the other hind leg and fractured her hips/pelvis. Every time we take her to a vet we've seen plenty in the past 6 months they are always amazed that she can walk, let alone run and jump like she does daily. We will have some challenges as we navigate an amputation sometime in the future but we are currently getting her stronger to make a quicker recovery.

All of us love her quirky personality. She might not be into cuddling on the couch with you, but she does love to lean into us and rest her head on our feet, legs, or the armrest in a car. She loves to go on walks, especially hiking the trails in Prince William Forest or Shenandoah National Park.

We are so grateful for Sadie coming into our lives. The four of us adore her.

Fran, Jen, Isabella, & Jonah