An Open Letter To Fans and Lovers of German Shepherds
“Every passing moment is another chance to make a difference.”
At the end of 2021, Sedona Shepherd Sanctuary was asked to help find homes for three senior German Shepherds, ages 11, 13 and 15. While that task may have seemed daunting, three incredible adopters stepped up and by the end of January 2022, all three found loving homes. Working with all three adopters was inspirational and the feeling defines the “this is why we do rescue” phrase.
As we moved forward through 2022, there were signs that this year was going to be different than years past. At first, we started to get more requests from local shelters for help. Then more phone calls from owners. By early May, we were averaging 1-2 requests a day from owners wanting to surrender their German Shepherd.
To put things in perspective, we are a smaller rescue just in New Jersey, and on average we directly find homes for about 40 adult and senior German Shepherds a year. At the current rate, we will have been asked with helping over 300 German Shepherds in finding homes in 2022. We are not alone, every German Shepherd rescue in the northeast area is over-capacity. Just a back of the envelope calculation shows that right now there are about 20,000 German Shepherds listed for adoption on the three main online sources for finding dogs. Given that many shelters don’t have the capacity or time to list all of their dogs, that number is significantly higher.
“The human being is born with an inclination towards virtue.”
Wiley, aka Johnson, is a 9 year old German Shepherd that was found as a stray in Philadelphia in the summer of 2021. Like many strays at that shelter, he was under-weight, had ear infections (turns out he is deaf), missing fur, and you could see the vertebrae up against his skin. While generally a friendly and goofy boy, we discovered he had behavioral issues around food. Today, thanks to the time and dedication of his adopters, he is healthy, a fan and takes boat trips and vacations with his new family.
“Dig deep within yourself, for there is a fountain of goodness ever ready to flow if you keep digging.”
If you love, like or are just interested in German Shepherds, this is the year to create your own story. From young puppies, to young adults, to middle aged dogs, to seniors, there is a dog available that can reach into your soul. If you aren’t involved in German Shepherd rescue, take some time to reach out to your state’s rescue groups.
There are so many ways to help, from donating time, or money (yes, we all need money), fostering, adopting, or just being a friend. If you had a bad experience once with rescue, don’t let that deter you and just like rescues give second chances to dogs, give a second chance to a rescue. Feel free to reach out to us to ask for recommendations of rescue groups to work with.
We will leave you with these thoughts, just slightly modified. “Joy for human beings lies in proper human work. And proper human work consists in: acts of kindness to other beings.”