Our dogs, if we are responsible masters, and human enough to let them into our hearts, leave a legacy that we can often share with others. Promises we make our beloved pets when they are alive and after they have gone can help heal our broken hearts and enrich the lives of others.

Some people will never allow another human into their hearts for fear of being hurt. It is hard, though, to keep a pet out. They have a way of accepting us for everything we are good or bad that makes us feel loved. They make us want to love them back.

Following are tales of loss, not meant for those who want to avoid tears. These are stories of dogs that were loved, who loved us and because of them the world is now a better place. Each of these tales has a story of love and promises made to these furry friends who loved us unconditionally.

Our website alone, http://www.onlinepups4sale.com.au is a monument to a fallen friend. Site Administrator Benny Godrey and his fiance' Teonie lost their doberman, Xtremedobe Raging Bull when he was only two years old. For all practical purposes he was still a puppy and he should have lived another eight or more years.

The Dobie pup had symptoms that Benny now knows to watch for; symptoms he took great care to describe to the veterinarian’s service – symptoms that led to a death that could have been avoided. The dog was panting excessively, drooling, weak, seemed “out of it.” He laid his head in Teonie’s lap and wouldn’t move.

When Benny called the vet’s office and described his dog’s symptoms, he should have been told to come right in. Those who worked in the office and had the veterinarian training required for their jobs should have already recognized the symptoms and saved Benny’s best friend’s life. The dog should have been brought in immediately.

There are things Benny could have been told to do over the phone that could have helped which included cooling the dog down. Dobermans are very dark, mostly black and this really attracts the sun rays. Benny now has air conditioning for his dogs; he would have had it sooner had he known it would have saved his dog’s life.

That didn’t happen though, and this pup that brought unconditional love to Benny and Teonie died in their arms. The staff was going to lunch, Benny was told; perhaps the dog has a tick. Bring the dog in when they get back from lunch. But Raging Bull didn’t have the strength to wait; he died from a heart-related problem induced by the heat. He passed with his head in Teonie’s lap. His passing broke their hearts.

When Benny lifted his lifeless friend in his arms, he made him a solemn promise – that his life would mean something. He decided to develop this website to a create a place where responsible dog breeders and dog owners can gather to share their knowledge and maybe help to prevent unavoidable deaths in the future.

Benny now breeds the best lines of Dobies he can find, carefully choosing them for their pedigrees, and screens their mental and physical health closely. The best parents possible are chosen for his litters and the litters imprinted closely to assure they’ll be the best representatives of their breed – a breed Benny loves and admires.

In 2009, my husband’s best friend of 10 years, his boy Nightmare Come True, crossed the Rainbow Bridge. It was a hot, sunny day and Rocky had just returned home. Our dogs were all there to greet him but Nightmare was missing. We began searching for him and Rocky saw what looked to be his sable German Shepherd lying down in the upper yard area. I watched as my husband ran up the hill and dropped to his knees next to his fallen friend. My heart broke as I walked up to join them, making sure the other dogs were detained so they wouldn’t witness the sad event. Animals feel the pain of loss and they instinctively react to the death process. This has been proven over and over with cadaver dogs in the field that have to be cleansed and have quality healing time to overcome a deep mourning after uncovering deceased humans.

Our promise to Nightmare will be a continuing one in the legacy of love he left us as well as in his daughter Jasmine. Nightmare was the largest pup in his litter; a huge roly-poly puppy that bounded around always full of life. His life may have been shortened because of poor kennel help; always make sure your kennel help are reliable.

Kennel workers, we found, cannot always be trusted and in this case, they didn’t seem to pick up on the fact that the automatic feeder wasn’t moving. They didn’t check it to find that it was clogged – Nightmare began to lose weight. That was bad enough had they not compounded the deed. On the weekend, I checked the feeders and found Mare’s was clogged – German Shepherds can tend to become lean; in fact that can be encouraged (though not purposely induced) to help prevent hip and elbow dysplasia. Dogs, like humans, can survive remarkably without food though they shouldn’t have to, but the kennel workers had left a bleach mop close by. Puppies will chew on anything and apparently Mare was hungry enough he ate part of the mop.

It took us a long time to figure that all out; first we took him from the kennel to home to help him gain his weight back and to give him all the love we possibly could to try to make up for his suffering.

Nightmare did not gain weight, however; he continued to lose. He had projectile vomiting and diarrhea that he couldn’t shake. He wouldn’t eat or drink. I can’t remember how many times he ended up in the emergency room at the veterinarian’s office.

He was x-rayed and had ultrasounds, antibiotics and finally they could tell that something was wrapped inside his intestines but we didn’t know what. He was probably going to die, we were told, because he hurt too bad to eat and eating was the only chance he had to purge whatever was inside him. Since whatever it was (bleached mop pieces) was wrapped around his intestines, they could not do surgery.

They tried prescription dog food with increased fiber. We tried everything we could think of. He would drink a little cold milk but that was about it. Then we bought peanut butter dog biscuits at Wal-mart and wow!!! Nightmare ate them. He was eating a bag a day and the vet said that would at least keep him alive. Then one night, he just gave up. I’ll never forget it; it was freezing cold out and he just lay down on the deck and howled and was quiet. We thought he was dying and we just couldn’t have him probed and prodded more. Instead we just took turns lying outside with him on the deck all night long. It’s a wonder we didn’t both die from pneumonia.

I’ll never know what happened that night other than to suggest a miracle because Mare woke up the next morning and was able to pass the material from his insides. That was the day I was glad I’d already fired the kennel staff for not checking the automatic feeder or I don’t know what I would have done when I was finally able to see what had been blocking his bowels.

Nightmare’s father, Chaos sired 10 gorgeous, perfect litters for us. We had a training apartment set up and the helper (another kennel worker) lived in there and helped clean the kennel. He neglected to tell us Chaos had vomited blood inside the apartment. Several hours passed before Rocky noticed Chaos was in obvious pain and took him to the vet.

I’ll always regret I didn’t go because I really thought it was just a tummy ache. We had gotten Chaos at the age of 4 months and he was a gorgeous as he was intelligent. He looked like a famous relative, Dingo Vom Haus Gero.

Chaos had a twisted stomach and surgery was performed. I will never forgive the vet for not telling us that there was only a 20 percent chance that Chaos would survive the night – not just live through the surgery. He didn’t make it. Sometime in the early morning hours Chaos left us.

These are stories of grief so very deep. How many of us wonder why we can allow our hearts to open to such pain? The truth is, it can’t be explained. The unconditional and boundless love these animals give us is something I wish everyone could experience.

We began breeding German Shepherds, and built Haus Vom Brett Kennel in 1998. It was built on a dual promise. First it was named after our first born son Brett who was murdered by a child molester when he was only six years old.

In 1996 we purchased 3 litter puppies from an amazing East German line litter. Athena was mine, Sheba was Rocky’s and Cowboy belonged to my son. The girls were sable and Cowboy was pure black. They were my first German Shepherds and they were amazing.

Haus Vom Brett Kennel was built after the following story happened. It’s one that breaks my heart to this day. The story has inspired many lives to be saved or enhanced through service dogs, protection, cadaver, live find and police work. It was a promise I made to Athena, Sheba and Cowboy and a labor of love named after my son. They will always be in our hearts.

They are buried here on our property, together in death as they were in the womb and in life. I wrote this after they died; the man who murdered them deliberately got them to come to him so he could get the little mixed breed we had named Minnie.

The man, still dressed in his winter underwear, though it was past noon, stepped out on the porch of his wooden framed house when he heard the dogs barking. “Well, look at that,” he muttered out loud, partly to him and partly to the mixed breed toy that sat at his feet. “Looks like Daddy’s gonna git you a friend.”

They were far in the distance, but he could make out their shapes as they played and romped gleefully in the snow. He slipped on his boots without bothering to tie them, put on his Carhart jacket and grabbed the hunting rifle. He looked at it closely. Hell, he wasn’t hunting. He was killing. Placing the rifle back in its holder, he picked up his other one which he kept filled with varmint ammo; it spread inside the critter on impact, making it impossible for the beast to survive.

He stepped out onto the porch. “Come on Skeet,” he said, hearing his voice quiver with his excitement. The dogs were still way off and that wouldn’t do. Obviously they belonged to somebody; looking through his scope he could see collars and tags. Oh well, finder’s keepers. He’d have to get them off that property and on to his own. Had to get them at least within shooting range. He wanted the little one badly now - hell, it looked just like that TV dog Benji.

Maybe they were friendly since they had collars. He could see now they were German Shepherds. If there was one thing the man hated, it was big dogs. Big dogs could hurt you. Little dogs couldn’t. Kinda like women and kids. His house might not be his own, but his family sure was. They knew they’d best walk his walk or else. And they knew a whole list of or else’s.

One of the dogs was pure black; the other two were sable like wolves and then there was Benji. He called out to them. “Here boy!” The dogs stopped in their play, ears up, attentive. “Come on!” he called, the gun at his side so he wouldn’t appear threatening. “Here Puppies!”

That did it. Here they came on the run. The man encouraged them and it was obvious the stupid dogs had no clue. It was obvious they were into people and did not see him as a threat. And, he reflected to himself, smiling, even if he got caught he’d say they were chasing deer. You can kill dogs in Idaho if they chase deer. This was pretty funny considering the three dead poached ones inside his freezer.

Closer and closer they came and gathered around him jumping up and down. He laughed, and it sounded genuine because he was pretty damned happy. He scooped up Benji and Skeet and put them in the house. Turning, he saw the German shepherds looking at him. The black one had his head cocked like he was trying to read his mind. Slowly, he lifted the rifle and took aim. By damned, they weren’t as stupid as they looked. Off they went.

He caught the black one first, in the hind quarters; he screamed like a human and down he went. One of the sables was next and she screamed too. The smallest one was almost out of range but she didn’t stand a chance.

Cowboy looked at the man expectantly. He’d taken Minnie in the house. Was he bringing back a treat? Out he came and Cowboy was wondering if it was a hot dog. He loved hot dogs. But wait, the man was pointing a stick at him. The man was going to hurt him. He could smell the evil and fury pour off the man and tried to run. The pain was like nothing he’d ever known. He screamed for his family and then went to sleep.

Sheba started running as soon as her brother did. She’d had leg surgery and this was the first day she’d been allowed to run. That’s why they’d gone off the back end of their yard. She heard a loud noise, heard her brother scream. The pain that hit her next didn’t really register. She died instantly.

Athena was terrified. The screaming, the noise, the laughing. It didn’t go together. And then, she couldn’t move; the bullet tore her insides up, part of it exiting out her left eye. And she slept.

I already knew about evil. I understood it needed no motive but hate. I’d lost my son, Brett to evil when a child molester murdered him at the age of six. Much of the world learned about evil on 9/11 though since then too many have worked hard to push the images and feelings of that day behind them.

It was March of 1997 and my babies, my best friends, my companions and protectors were dead. We got Minnie back but she reminded us too much of the pain. She was a constant reminder of what we’d lost and how we lost it. She ended up in a nursing home where she has helped many people.

It was not the day innocence ended for me - that had left long ago. But it was the day I decided to learn more about a more honest, non-evil being. I decided to learn about canines; wolves and German Shepherds in particular. That day led me down many trails criss-crossing the country, through a countless number of books, through meeting wolves, living with my pack of dogs. I came to know that there are hundreds of books on the market about dogs. Some of them are excellent; some of them are fair to good.

As a promise to my beloved dogs, my line of Haus Vom Brett books will soon be available. They will hopefully add to the growing movement of positive dog training, responsible breeding and love of the noble, loving animal we call the dog.

We at http://www.onlinepups4sale.com.au owe so much to our dogs and the promises we’ve made them will take a lot of work to keep. We will keep their legacy of love, devotion and work ethic alive.

Yes, the loss hurts but our members are here because they love their dogs as well. They’ve learned from dogs they’ve lost; they currently love dogs they will someday lose. But for today, they are here in our lives and we will do all we can to let them know every day how much they are loved because it seems that is the goal they have concerning us.

I believe life does not end here and I believe all of God’s creatures will be rewarded some day. I hope I’m proven to be right on this one. They certainly deserve it; those who will sacrifice everything for us. I’d like to think all those innocent animals who will someday be rewarded and their tears wiped away as ours will be.

We have six German Shepherds we love so much and we know the day is coming when they will leave us. People ask how you can let yourself get attached. They don’t understand that the love you get from a dog is endless. No matter what you do, they forgive you. They don’t care if you are in a bad mood or good mood; they worry about you when you are sick, cry when you are gone.

This site is made for dog lovers by dog lovers. We welcome all our members to tell us what they think, give us advice, tell us what they like and don’t like. This site is a promise to a friend who will always be loved and missed.
(2010w01)