This is the story of Troys journey with us, We were dealing with the imminent loss of Denali whom we had for over a decade her health was declining and we had wanted another GSD so I was perusing various dog rescue sites and I came across this picture of a stunning GSD with these eyes that spoke to my heart and said "Help Me". He was at the local pound, we talked about it and I called and left a message a day or two went by and heard nothing so I called again and found out he was "rescue only" due to health issues for some that may have been it however for me it just became more obvious that some way I/We had to help this dog. Now Several years back my wife had made inquiries with a local GSD rescue but nothing came of it HOWEVER her employer had ties to said group. and calls were made , Now way more was happening behind the scenes that we could at this point have no knowledge of the rescue were working furiously behind what we knew to rescue this boy. I called the pound again and left another message trying to find ANY scrap of info I could. Somehow all these moving pieces coalesced and Troy was going to be rescued. This senior who was tossed away like garbage sentenced to certain death due to EXTREME fear of thunder and associated noises as well as self harm chewing holes in his legs and tail was going to be rescued and adopted by us BUT the poor guy had yet another obstacle to over come as he developed kennel cough during his stay at the pound and we still had to have a meet and greet between Troy and Denali. Then finally on a HOT summer day in July of 2018 We got to meet him and the only question was will Denali and Troy be ok together as by this point Denali was pretty fragile well they pretty much smelled each other and then ignored the other Troy was coming HOME. Now it was not all rainbows and love Troy had quirks and physical issues that needed dealt with we started with beemers and cold laser treatments, then acupuncture his last session of which he bit the vet tech pretty bad we started him on gold paste, cbd oil and Chinese herbs and other vitamin supplements and at times he needed prednisone but for the most part we had his self harm and chewing under control for the last 6 months or so he was on daily Tramadol and we were making progress on his fear of loud noises. Troy had no problem letting you know if he did not like something he was NOT a pushover he commanded respect and had a LARGE presence He was great in public and LOVED car rides. Those that saw him at the pound and then at our place were AMAZED at the dog he blossomed into he ran he chased sticks he played he was HAPPY. Unfortunately on 6/12/20 something happened he was chewing himself FURIOUSLY and his rear paws appeared swollen we attempted an E Collar but he just started chewing around it we emailed our vet who suggested lidocaine spray which we got and we had an appointment for Little Mann so we added Troy we also started him up on prednisone again we got through 6/13/20 and were cautiously hopeful but alas twas not ok at breakfast on 6/14/20 h e lost bladder control and his breathing was hard and rapid we gave him an extra Tramadol and waited to see if it worked but it became clear that to do anything more was selfish and self serving and we took him for his last car ride . Troy left us at 9:45am 6/14/20 no more pain and all the sticks he could ever ask for GOODBYE SWEET TROY
