 We recently learned that our 2017 alumnus, Cooper (formerly Horton), crossed the Rainbow Bridge in 2022. Cooper began his rescue journey as a senior, carrying more than his fair share of challenges. He suffered from arthritis in his elbow and shoulder - believed to be caused by an untreated developmental issue as a puppy - and he was also advanced heartworm positive. As if that weren’t enough, Cooper had a severe allergic reaction to his heartworm treatment, requiring a long and careful recovery process. But during that slow road to healing, something wonderful happened. Cooper fell in love with his foster family… and decided he was already home. His mom, Jamy, shared this beautiful tribute to her beloved boy:
“We lost Cooper in November 2022. He was between 15–16 years old. Cooper was our first foster and our first foster fail! He came to us a little rough around the edges—severely heartworm positive and with a gimp leg. It took 15 months to get him heartworm free, and with time he became the most loving and loyal old man. He was very protective of his family and his home. He spent his days chasing anything that moved in our yard and slept at the bottom of our bed every night. He’d let you know when he thought it was time for everyone to go to bed. He absolutely loved car rides and sometimes gave you no choice but to take him along. Cooper was so loving and happy. With four GSPs in the house, he earned the nickname ‘King Cooper.’ My family always accused me of him being my favorite. We know nothing about Cooper’s earlier years, but we do know his last five were spent loved, adored, and safe. Letting him go absolutely broke our hearts. He is missed and talked about every day.” Our hearts go out to the Dingler family. While Cooper has been gone for a few years now, we know grief doesn’t follow a timeline. We hope the memories of his happy, love-filled years bring comfort and smiles as they remember their sweet King Cooper. Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy. —ANONYMOUS  We were recently notified that our sweet 2015 alumna Annie passed away from cancer last October. Annie is in the 2023 SEGSP Calendar, month of April. Annie came to rescue with her brother Pistol (who passed away in January 2022). When Annie was searching for her forever home, her bio said “I (Annie) am 5 years old and have been told I’m a beauty that loves attention – I am an excellent cuddler and I know basic commands like sit and stay. I love children and playing with other dogs, but especially my brother, Pistol.” Annie found a wonderful home with the Nieman family, and we are forever grateful that they gave Annie a loving home with lots of cuddling and attention. We can visualize the reunion of Annie and Pistol at the Rainbow Bridge and it makes us smile. Play on Annie and Pistol!
 We were recently informed that our 2012 alumnus Fritz (formerly Bob) left his world on November 17, 2022. His mom Sheri sent us this touching tribute to Fritz:
"Fritz Cordell was rescued by the Southeast German Shorthaired Pointer Rescue and fostered by Kathy Glielmi who called him “Bob”. He was adopted by us on January 20, 2012, at the age of 3. We might have adopted him, but he rescued us with his antics, devotion, and pure love. He was always a very good boy. Within a day, he was caring for his adopted sister Hannah, another German Shorthaired Pointer and doted on her in her declining years through her seizures and other health issues until her death in 2014. Fritz loved everyone and everything except the garage and rain! In his early life he must have been kept in a garage. He absolutely refused to enter the garage from the house if the garage doors were down. Hence his nickname, “Front Door Fritz”. He was deathly afraid of rope. Otherwise, he was fearless. He disliked rain but tolerated baths in the shower. He was devoted to his family including welcoming a frisky 8-week-old puppy in 2015 and nurtured and “trained” her for all these many years. He loved walks and relaxing in the sun although he didn’t really care for toys or balls, although he was offered many. He loved food. There was no food he didn’t love but he especially loved any treat with peanut butter, pretzels and popcorn (all in moderation). He was an ultimate “food hound”. Fritz received his Canine Good Citizenship and Canines for Therapy Certification in 2012. He loved to go visit children and young adults and loved to meet them on the streets during walks. He would just stand and glow in the attention. One week when he was at the beach, we were doing an evening walk during COVID, and a young child ran out from a rental house calling “Spot”. His mother followed and explained the child had special needs and his school had been closed but they had a therapy dog with spots that he loved to see daily. Fritz loved the attention and visited the child every day that week. He was “Spot” for the week. Fritz was in declining health for 15 months with IBS, arthritis and compression of his spine resulting eventually in no sensation to his rear legs. Rest in Peace, dear Fritzie. You were a very good boy. We miss you so." “When Tomorrow starts without me, do not think we’re apart. For every time you think of me, I’m right here in your heart.” David M Romano We found out our 2019 Alumnus, Luke, passed away in 2022 from cancer. We know he was loved very much. He had a pool and lake to swim in, a canine sister to show him the ropes, a human sister to cuddle with at night, a mom that mixed special food for him, a dad that ran with him and a grandma to love. What every dog dreams about! Luke was also lovingly prepared for his new family by his foster mom Stephanie, one of our amazing foster volunteers (thank you Stephanie for finding such a wonderful home for Luke). Our hearts go out to the LaPine family for their loss. Run free sweet Luke! “There are no goodbyes for us. Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart.” Mahatma Gandhi   We have sad news today… We found out that our 2015 alumna, Maggie, has passed away in 2022. She had a neglected existence the first 7 years of her life, then she was dropped off at a Georgia shelter by her owner. She appears to have lived her entire existence in an outdoor kennel or whelping box. Thanks to her foster mom, Megan, Maggie thrived in rescue and found her forever home with the Hight family.
Her mom said, “I held on to her at the end as long as I could, I made several adjustments to my home to help her stay comfortable. It was so hard to make the call because she would have some okay days and then bad days. She was losing control of her bowels/bladder. She seemed to just be uncomfortable all the time. I had a vet come to my house and she got comfortable on my couch, and just drifted away. No more pain, no more anxiety. I think her sight and hearing were not 100% by then either. She really just got old. It was sad, but it was time. I was on the fence for close to a year about when to let her go. I loved that sweet baby.” Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends leave footprints in your heart. —ELEANOR ROOSEVELT  We recently discovered that our 2017 Alumnus Levi, from Florida, passed away in December of 2022. When he came to rescue after being abandoned, he was extremely underweight and terrified. He blossomed into a very handsome boy. The name Levi means “joined in harmony” and that was so true when he met his forever family. He loved to take his toys out of the toy box for display, play fetch and enjoyed being a goofy GSP. But most of all, he loved his family more than anything.
His mom Heather said, “Sean worked so hard to help Levi overcome his fear of men. At 6'3" he must have seemed terrifying to Levi at first. Eventually, Sean made him feel safe and our little Eeyore came to life. We had him for 5 great years before the seizures took over, which I hope made up for the first 5 years and the 2 previous owners who didn't want him back. We hated to lose him.” Farewell Levi – you will be in our hearts forever. “With their love so pure, dogs must go to heaven. They run free and wait patiently for your hearts to merge once more.” Unknown  Sweet Shanti (aka Libby/Bella in SC) crossed the rainbow bridge over Christmas weekend. She came into rescue in mid-November battered, starved, broken and riddled with cancer but that didn’t stop her sweet spirit from shining. From the day our NC/SC State Coordinator Erin picked her up until her final moments with our longtime volunteer Marcy, she wagged that tail and wanted nothing more than to be beside you. She loved her sweaters, blankets and to curl up on her soft bed. Her foster mom Marcy knows she’s still with her when she hears the song Independence Day - Libby got her Independence Day and knew she was so loved.
From Marcy, “She left this world with a full belly, wrapped in a warm blanket with her head resting on my heart. She was a very sweet little fighter of a girl and I’m sorry our time together was so short, but we did the best to enjoy the days we were given. My Lady Liberty, it is now time to let freedom ring.” A special thank you to Erin, our NC/SC State Coordinator and Lisa for fostering Libby during her rescue journey, and to Marcy for giving her love until her last moment on this earth. Although we wish she had entered rescue sooner, there is no doubt she left this world knowing the beauty of being loved and cherished. “If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever.” Unknown  It’s been a rough month in rescue. We’ve just received word that we’ve lost another alumnus, sweet Blue. We don’t know anything about Blue’s life prior to rescue, however he was fostered by our late founder, Beth Cochran and was heartworm positive. Beth helped him through his treatment then found an amazing home for Blue with the Parks family.
From Blue’s family, “It is with deepest sadness that we wish to let you know, we lost our beloved Blue three weeks ago. We adopted him from the SEGSP Rescue in September of 2011 and he truly became our faithful and best buddy ever. Blue was such an amazing dog, loving, trustworthy, well mannered, and (for a GSP!) calm and we regularly marveled to one another at how blessed we were with him in our lives. Needless to say, we are still quite devastated by the loss. To honor him, we will be planting a Blue Atlas Cedar tree on our property and will mix in some of his ashes. Blue loved trying to catch fish at the lake, he would wade in the shallows and point, then suddenly, swiftly dive his head under water (no he never did catch one!). He was so into this "sport" that we liked to say he was our fish dog (and a bird dog too). So, some of his ashes will also go around his favorite "fishing hole". He lived a full life, to 14 years old, but the past two years saw him suffering from a number of overall declining health issues including kidney disease, and finally, painful and debilitating arthritis issues. When we adopted Blue he was being fostered by Beth Cochran so we had the pleasure and privilege of meeting and working with her during the process. We will always remain grateful to the Rescue for all of your hard work and devotion to this amazing breed. Thank you all.” Blue’s memorial tribute will remain on our website's memorial page forever. Like all of our alumni that have passed to the Rainbow Bridge, we honor Blue’s memory and thank his family for giving him a loving home.  Another SEGSP alum has left this world for the Rainbow Bridge. Pete (formerly Longstreet Pistol) came to rescue originally in 2015 with his sister Annie and moved around a bit before he finally found his forever home with the Black family in 2018.
From Pete’s dad Wesley, “On the 19th of December, we had to take Longstreet (Pete - our nickname and Pistol - his name at the rescue) to be put to rest. He suffered from epilepsy and since September of this year, lymphoma. His epilepsy was under control but the lymphoma proved to be too much for him, even with the cancer treatment he was receiving. We adopted him from the rescue in SEPTEMBER 2018 when he was about seven or eight. He was a beloved member of our family and his loss was hard for all of us at Christmas but it was especially hard for our daughter. They were best friends and Longstreet was the best with her. She would not even let us take his stocking down. Thank you for all of your hard work with GSP’s and for helping us find Pete. The work you do is incredible. We miss him but he will be remembered by the Christmas tree star our daughter picked out for him the day I returned from the vet.” Pete will be forever loved in our hearts. Run pain-free sweet boy...  Another sad announcement... Our beautiful 2020 alumna Bella has completed her journey on earth. From her parents Tiffany and Daryl, “It’s with a heavy heart I let you know that sweet Bella crossed the rainbow bridge. She had a very fast-growing tumor which made it difficult to walk, get up and to go to the bathroom. She was such a sweet dog and she enjoyed playing with her brother and sister, her time at the lake and going on boat rides.”
Bella came to rescue in 2020 at age 10 after the only family she knew surrendered her. What Bella didn’t realize at the time was that her foster family would fall in love with her, adopt her and give her the love, attention and adventure that she craved and deserved. It was a blessing in disguise and her last two years were heaven on earth. “Grieve not, nor speak of me with tears, but laugh and talk of me as if I were beside you. I loved you so… Twas heaven here with you.” Isla Paschal Richardson |
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