Sarah

This is a photo of Sarah who has passed away from heart failure three years ago at the age of 13.5. Sarah was the most gentle sweet girl who shows just how resilient and trusting German Shepherds are. Sarah was rescued from a German Shepherd rescue at the age of four. She came from several states away and spent her first few years on a ranch. The ranchers wife had Sarah and her sister Missy as out door dogs. One day Sarah and her sister escaped and chased a calf into a fence where the calf was injured. The husband told his wife he would be back later in the day and if Sarah and her sister were still there he would shoot both of them. 

The wife called the local shelter and they came and saved Sarah and Missy and promptly had them transported to the GSD rescue here in Colorado and Utah. Sarah was so traumatized by the ordeal she would run and hide. I was a volunteer for the rescue and the owner called me to see I would adopt her. We went up for a meet and she came out eagerly to meet our two dogs Bozwell and Gypsy. They got along and then she ran and hid under the deck and had to be pulled out. She was for us and we adopted her right then. 

It took us two years to help Sarah regain her confidence and over come her fear and panic attacks. The girl that emerged was highly intelligent and as sweet a girl as they get. Gypsy and Bozwell were also instrumental in helping  recover. She wasn't over with the trauma however. A few years later she was chasing a chipmunk in the back yard in the morning and by lunch time she went totally blind. We took her immediately to the vet and was told she had a rare eye disease that they believe was caused by high blood pressure. 

Both of her retinas had totally detached and were free floating within the eye. A specialist in Colorado Springs was consulted and advised that the condition was permanent and less than a handful of dogs had ever recovered their sight and then only very limited sight. We quickly learned how to care for a totally blind Sarah and she actually remained blind for several weeks. One of the readers of our blog wrote me and said to get bilberry and give that to her as her dog went blind and the bilberry helped restore her sight. 

Off I was to the pharmacy for bilberry and shortly after having given it to her one day we noticed Sarah could see again. Off to the vet again where the vet said she couldn't believe it but her eyes were back to normal. Sarah had sight until her demise from chronic heart failure several years later. Carol and I miss  Sarah to this day. Sarah was gentle, loving, loyal and a very big lap girl. She had some horrific things happen to her including abuse from her first owner.  None the less she emerged in our care as a super good and loyal family member. 

The only thing we were unable to help Sarah overcome was the beeping from the heavy equipment when it backed up. That sound sent her into hiding or cowering by our side for protection. Both the vet and ourselves saw a divine miracle when Sarah's eye sight was restored. The vet was speechless when she saw Sarah's retina's reattached and her sight restored. Sarah had hundreds of people praying for her to regain her sight and those prayers were answered. Oh how I miss my sweet girl.