Years ago when we first started breeding and showing dogs, we had a dog that we named Thunder Road. He was the only sable German shepherd in the litter. It was our first litter and they all got parvovirus; one died. Thunder spent the longest at the Vets. They called me up at 1:00 am the morning of his 6th day at the Vets and said he was slipping away. They wanted to know if they could give him a strong steroid shot to try and jolt his system back. I said, “YES”. Later that morning they called me and said he was doing much better. We went to visit him again; just like we did every day that he spent in there. He made a full recovery and Thunder was never sick a day in his life after that.

But all good things have to end. Just like every night, I take my dogs from their outside kennel runs to their inside runs in our 30×40’ building. I gave the dogs their cookies for the night after feeding them and cleaning the kennels and said goodnight to each of them, pulled both double doors down for the night, turned the light off, left the radio playing and locked the door behind me. Thunder was lying on his blankets in the front of his kennel run, where he slept every night. I found him the next morning in the same spot I left him. He had passed away peacefully in his sleep. He was a great dog. I still miss him.

Reinier’s Thunder Road
June 4, 1987 – January 31, 2000

“Blessed is the person who has earned the love of an old dog”.
~ Sidney Jeanne Seward ~