When Adam and I first started dating he talked about always wanting a German Shepherd. So shortly after we got married we decided that we would start off with getting a dog. I was never too keen on the idea of getting a Shepherd, but I did promise him one so needless to say we ended up getting one. There was a breeder right by our house and in August of 2008 I put a deposit down for female puppy that was yet to be born.
On October 10, 2008 a dog named Vera had a litter of beautiful German Shepherd puppies. We got to pick out one of the last two. Adam picked this puppy and she stole our hearts from day one.
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| Sades is the one on the left. |
We got to bring her home on December 5th 2008. She quickly stole our hearts. She was rambunctious, full of energy and so cuddly and sweet. We had gotten Kacie in October, right before Halloween and the two of them hit it off immediately. They were two peas in a pod.
Our first Christmas picture with the girls.
They quickly became our sole focus (other than work and school). They were the perfect additions to our family and we loved them so much. They got a long so well and were the perfect companions for me due to Adam traveling all the time. They kept me company as I studied and slept in our room and helped keep me feeling safe in our home.
German Shepherds are known for being aggressive and possessive. So we were told by our very knowledgeable breeder to socialize her early and often. Adam and I knew we wanted kids so it was important to me for her to not be upset by tugging and pulling and poking and prodding. I was constantly taking them both with me wherever I went and I would play with her, wrestle with her and bug the crap out of her.
When the girls were about 2 we ended up bringing Adam's dog that he bought when he was 15 home with us. His parents had kept him outside and I hated that idea, it was Adam's responsibility and it was time he owned up to it.
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| our 3 loves. |
In January of 2011 Adam and Found out our dreams of becoming parents were finally going to come true and we were expecting Lincoln. Sadie followed me EVERYWHERE I went. She was constantly by my side and such a sweet cuddly dog. Then once Lincoln was born she was OBSESSED! she rarely left his side, and if he would cry and I wasn't around she would come find me and herd me to him. She was so protective of him and he just adored her.
Lincoln spent a lot of time at my parents house when he was young due to me working nights and Adam being out of town. with that, the Dogs would often go to my parents too...
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| always had to be holding his buddy. |
While I can't remember as much how Sadie was with Landon, I imagine she wasn't too different with him than she was with Linc. Landon rarely cried and rarely needed anything, but Sadie was often right next to him when he was on the floor. I didn't look through all the pictures of Landon when he was a baby, but there are significantly less pictures of the two boys with the dogs. But here is the Christmas picture I have from 2014.
Sadie was often super rambunctious and since German Shepherds are notorious for getting bored, we often put Sadie on the treadmill to give her some exercise and make her a little more manageable. Without it she was like a toddler, constantly getting into things and just being a bit of a pain. The boys loved to be right next to her playing with their toys or in some cases jumping on their trampoline next to her.
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| Running with Lincoln |
Around the end of 2014 is when our whole world changed with the twins. Needless to say the dogs unfortunately and even more so now sort of breaks my heart but they went on the back burner. Our focus of course had to be the girls and all that they required of us. It wasn't an easy few years, and many times the dogs were just there, they were company and companionship still but were sometimes neglected a little if I'm being honest.
Last year after Lynlie was born I had this feeling that our days with the dogs were numbered so I talked Adam into bringing the dogs with us for our family pictures and I could not be more grateful that I did. It was hectic with trying to get a good picture. But what in this life isn't....
We moved out of our house in April and the dogs had moved out at the end of March. We had taken a family vacation at the beginning of April and it was easier for those caring for our dogs for them to be at my parents so we just had them stay at their house.
By May it was becoming apparent that something wasn't quite right with Sadie. She was having trouble walking and seemed to be tripping over her hind legs. I took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with Degenerative Myopathy. It's a common degenerative disease in Shepherds where she slowly loses feeling in her hind legs. We tried her on some steroids, we tried a few different doses. There was some improvement but there wasn't a huge difference.
Throughout the summer she would have good days and bad days and by the end of July she was having more and more bad days. By August we were having to carry her in and out of the house at times just to go to the bathroom. She was spending more and more time in her cage because she kept having accidents in the house. We had even gotten to the point that we separated the girls to cut down on the daily baths for Kace.
Adam was ready to put her out of her misery, but I wasn't quite there yet. She was still all there mentally and was still able to be her pain in the rear self by opening doors, getting into things she shouldn't. I just had a hard time when she was that with it. I had spoken at length with her vet about our options and what we should do for her. He gave me the best advice. He said Adam and I had to be ready together. Some days I would be ready and some days he would be. But we had to be ready together.
Around mid August she was just getting so much worse. We were using a towel to help her walk and/or just carrying her outside. She would have accidents and wouldn't even know it. Then the weekend of August 24th she just was not herself. I had selfishly been putting off making a decision because I didn't want to put her down on my birthday. But by the weekend after she laid on her dog bed and didn't move. She didn't raise her head, she didn't move. It became apparent that she was ready. And needless to say my heart broke. I spent the whole weekend taking pictures of her and trying to capture her spunky little personality and ways to remember her.
I had gotten several paw print kits and spent most of sunday making prints of her paws.
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| by the end, she couldn't even stand to eat. |
We took all sort of pictures with her. The only picture I didn't get was a picture of all 4 kiddos with her, But we have a family pic with the 8 of us and with just her. On monday I called the vet to tell him it was time. We couldn't do it on monday because Adam and I had meet the teacher night for the littles. So we decided on Tuesday August 28th. The vet could only do it at noon so Adam ended up taking half a day off work.
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| I got up early on Tuesday to get one last pic with Linc |
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| She is so missed by Lola |
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| Lola and Landon have had the hardest time with it. |
I loaded Sadie up in my dad's Yukon and met Adam at the vet. I didn't do much but cry. Sometimes Adulting is just plain hard. Our vet was gracious enough to come to the car for us, because we were having her buried at my Uncle's house in Greenwood. The vet let us have some last minutes with her. I held her as he administered the medication and I felt her leave us. As sad as it was, and it was heartbreaking, it was peaceful. She left us quickly and painlessly and that's really all we could ask for.
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| sweet girl I miss you so much. |
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| Last picture just the 3 of us. |
Sadie girl, Sadie Catherine, Saders... there aren't words to describe what you meant to us. You were an amazing dog that could not have loved us, or our kiddos more. You were their best friend, their constant companion and the one who looked out for them most. You were amazing with the kiddos and I couldn't have asked for a better dog for them. You kept me sane, sometimes drove me to brink of insanity, but you were the constant source of love that I needed when life got down right shitty. You were the dog that i didn't know I needed. I can not thank you enough for the love and the memories and holy smokes do I miss you. I miss your love, I miss your sweet kisses and I miss your bark believe it or not. But it's time for Laynie to get to love you now. Thank you for the memories! You're so missed.
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