I lost a faithful companion last night.......

I lost a faithful companion and friend last night. My German Shepard, Star, died in her sleep. She was 10 years old. You don't have to read any further if you don't wish to, I'll understand. This is mainly for me, and for Star.We got Star from a German Shepard Rescue Service when she was about a year-and-a-half old. As near as they could tell, she had escaped from a "puppy mill", and was carrying a littler of pups. She had been hit by a car, and they had to spay her to save her life, and she lost the pups. When we adopted her, she was a scrawny 40-odd lbs., had no muscle tone, and she had not-so-good hips. But, it was love at first sight when we went to pick her up. We named her "Star", because of the diamond shaped patch on her forehead

When we got Star home, she behaved like she had never seen the inside of a house in her life. We worked with her, built up her weight, exercised her, and took her to dog training classes twice a week. We took her up to a very muscular 85 lbs., and back into shape again. About 5 years ago, Star's hips were giving her some real problems, especially her right. Even though it cost a fortune (but, what are you going to do?), we had Star's right hip replaced, only to have it fail, and she would go through another replacement surgery a month later. She came back strong after her second surgery, and was up and back to her duties pretty dam quick. To say she had a lot of heart, and a lot of guts to survive all she did in her life is an understatement.

Star was a loving companion, and a fierce protector. She would have charged straight through Hell without hesitation if she thought one of us, or her "pup" (our other younger German Shepard, Jet) was in danger. When I left to go on the road someplace, I never worried for Laura's safety when I was gone. Between Star, and Jet, there was no way anybody was getting in this house without getting fucked up.

Yesterday Star seemed to be her usual self, no different than other days. She and Jet spent the day the way they usually did, and she seemed fine when I put them in their crates last night. This morning, I went to let them out of their crates, letting Star out first as I always did, because she would get pissed if Jet came out first. Star didn't come out this time. I knew before I touched her, she was gone. Jet came over, licked Star's head a couple times, and I think she knew too. I like to think that I'm a tough guy....but I just sat there and cried, yeah I did.

We wrapped Star up in one of her blankets, and drove her over to the vet's this morning, so she can be cremated on Monday. I'll put her under the apple tree in the back yard, the one she's laying under in the photo above. Jet's been wandering around all day looking for her "mom", and I feel pretty sad for Jet, too.

Like I said, this was mainly for me, and for Star. I'm pretty sad she had to leave so soon, and we're all going to miss Star a lot. I just wanted to give Star the tribute she deserved. Goodbye, faithful friend.....