This has been a very rough week in rescue… Another one of our precious alumni has crossed the Rainbow Bridge.   Baby (formerly Cleveland, aka Roxey), went through a lot in her life, including heartworm treatment.  She was fostered and adopted by her wonderful parents Robin and Gene who lovingly cared for her through treatment and then as a beloved family member. 

​From Robin and Gene, “With a very heavy heart we decided to let Baby go aka (Roxey & Cleveland).  She was a wonderful dog and filled our home with love and laughter. She had a mini stroke last summer and went downhill from there. In the end she was in so much pain that nothing could comfort her.  We asked her to give Calie (our other GSP) a kiss for us. I want to thank the rescue for asking Gene and I to take her.  Dogs are such a blessing. Especially the GSPs.  Forever in our  hearts.”

“I think dogs were put in this world to remind humanity that love, loyalty, devotion, courage, patience, and good humor are the qualities that, with honesty, are the essence of admirable character and the very definition of a life well lived.”  D. Koontz 

​Our 2020 alumnus, Blue (formerly Albert), has made his way to the Rainbow Bridge. Blue came to rescue as a stray. When he came to rescue, he had a stick lodged in his mouth, his pads were badly burned which gave him a limp and he was heartworm positive and had hookworms.  His foster mom and fur siblings fell in love with him and quickly adopted Blue.  

He was a sweet boy that had some quirks about him, including being so happy to see his family when they came home that he would pee on their shoe!  But we all know, the quirky ones always worm their way into our hearts quickly and absolutely, that is what happened with Blue.  Our hearts go out to the Templeton family for their great loss – we know they are extremely sad and miss Blue very much.


“I can’t promise that I’ll be here for the rest of your life, but I can promise that I’ll love you for the rest of mine.” Unknown

​We are so sad to announce the passing of our 2018 alumnus Blue, aka Buck (formerly Sparta). He was rescued at age 9 and passed away just shy of his 14th birthday. His mom Geri called him the “Best Brown Dog Ever!”

Blue’s former owner had terminal cancer so took him and his mom to a shelter. His Mom was 14 and the shelter was full, so she was tragically euthanized, but SEGSP was notified about Blue, and he was quickly picked up by our volunteer Lindsay and fostered by Andrea in NC. We are forever grateful to everyone, especially Blue’s family for loving him. We can imagine the reunion with his mom at the Rainbow Bridge…

“Remembering you is easy, we do it every day, but missing you is a heartache that never goes away.” Unknown

It is with heavy hearts that we announce another alumnus has passed to the Rainbow Bridge…
 
From our 2018 alumnus Patches’ family:  “It is with an unbelievably heavy heart that I write to let you know that our dear, dear Patches crossed the rainbow bridge on February 5th.  We adopted him from SEGSP on December 17th, 2018. He was a failed hunting dog from a farm in South Georgia and he was turned into a shelter in Savannah. He was listed as being 4 yrs old and he weighed about 35 lbs (quite underweight). We adopted him 4 weeks later (after his temperament, neuter and health tests). Some close friends had been his foster family (Nick & Megan). We had lost our dog Lulabell a couple of months earlier and for the first time in our lives, we were dogless. Patches found us at a time that we needed to be found.

After developing an odd, intermittent cough and being treated, unsuccessfully, for pneumonia, we found out on December 17th, 2022, that he had inoperable histiocytic sarcoma and only a few weeks to live. We were devastated, but we made the most of our time with him and treated him like the prince that he was.

During the four years we were honored to be his family, he was my running partner - covering somewhere around 3,000 miles and doing 10 mile runs like they were nothing. He helped me train for a Grand Canyon rim to rim to rim run. He was best friends, therapy buddy and partner in crime with Clank (aka Clark), our SEGSP foster fail from 2020.  Clank is also devastated by this loss.  He never barked and never, ever, under any conditions, pooped on a walk or a run. He was very private and preferred to do his business in the dark, ivy-covered recesses or our yard.

He’s truly one of the best dogs we’ve ever been honored to call family. Letting him go was one of the hardest things we’ve ever done.  We can’t thank SEGSP enough for allowing us to be his forever family.”
 
"Friendship isn't about whom you have known the longest... It's about who came and never left your side." Unknown

In memory of our 2009 alumnus Ripley who passed away on August 17, 2021…
Ripley was fostered by our longtime volunteers Michael and Amy.  He had epilepsy but sometimes the most challenging dogs steal your heart the fastest and sure enough, Tiffany and Blake fell in love and adopted him on May 2, 2009.
 
From Tiffany, “Ripley was found and turned into a shelter in TN twice in 2009. The woman who eventually saved him volunteered with the shelter and knew him because his owners lived next-door to her mother. She realized that he wasn't going to be taken care of and contacted rescue. I'm still in contact with her, and I call her Ripley's fairy godmother. He had uncontrolled epilepsy, and the rescue knew he would be a hard adoption. He was listed on the website and Blake saw him. He sent me an email and said, "let's go get Ripley - we know how to deal with this." We had Mabel who was an epileptic dog as well. So on May 2, 2009, my mom, Mabel, and I drove to Murfreesboro, TN and adopted him. His epilepsy was hard to get under control but eventually we did, using three different meds. He was so drugged for the first few months while adjusting his meds that he peed and pooped in my kitchen every day.
Sometimes he would just sit and stare, and I told Blake that I thought he might not be that smart.  Blake said, on the contrary, he is a genius, and Blake gave him the “Professor’s Voice” to show it.  I would walk in, and Ripley would just be staring, and I would ask “What are you doing Ripley?”  And Ripley (i.e., Blake doing the Ripley Professor Voice) would say, “Nothing much Mother.  Just contemplating the nature of the physical universe and the implications of quantum mechanics on Newtonian physics.  You know, just running through some mathematical equations in my head.”  “Oh, that sounds interesting, please tell me more” I would say.  And Ripley would say, “Mother, I’m afraid this is well beyond your understanding. But I love you.”
 
After we got his meds calibrated, he stopped using the kitchen as his personal bathroom, but he continued to be a genius and a handful as well. We had to move the trash can and the dog food outside because he never stopped breaking into either at any chance. He was a master counter surfer, and he perfected the standing-up-sideways-neck turn to reach into the bottom of the sink and grab anything remotely edible. That was nothing, though, compared to the love he gave. I've always said he was my soul mate. How we got lucky enough to have this dog in our lives, I'll never know. He turned out to be the sweetest, most mellow boy you could meet. He loved all people, all dogs, and all cats. He went on every vacation with me because he was so easy and he loved traveling. He was the best snuggler and the best lap dog. He had to be touching one of his humans at all times and we welcomed it. He snored a lot but no one cared. That dog was the best sleeping partner ever. He loved his doggie and kitty brothers and sisters and loved lounging in the sun. In fact, I never saw his tail wag for his humans, but if he saw a dog, his tiny tail wagged nonstop. He loved the outdoors, but if you took him on a walk, he would stop after about a mile, and you might end up carrying him back home. He was such an odd ball because of the meds but also such a typical crazy GSP. We'll never meet another weirdo like my boy. He is one of a kind.”
 
“I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy. I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.”  Art Williams