THEISHOF GERMAN SHEPHERDS, LLC

PRIMARY DATA

DN23519107,

01.19.2009-1.11.2023

deceased at 14 years of age

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PARENTS

Father:  V-ObiWan vom Theishof SchH 3, CGC, KKL1a

Mother:  V-Queen Redox SchH 1, ZVV 1, KKL 1a

 

Jozie was never a breeding female for vom Theishof.  She was a full litter sister to our female Jill and she was strictly a companion animal for our family.  Please read her AMAZING story, you will never believe it!

 

MORE ABOUT JOZIE

Jozie was our little wonder girl and she was owned by our son, Brandon. Jozie was strictly a companion animal for our family and was a spayed female. Jozie's story is beyond amazement to anyone who hears or reads it.  When she was just a few days old,  I found her off to the side from the rest of her litter.  She was cold and not moving.  Typically when this happens, there is no recovering the puppy and it passes within a short couple of hours.  Knowing this was "going to happen", I brought her in the house in a shoe box, put her on a heating pad with a towel warmed in the dryer, to make her comfortable for her last hours.  Much to my amazement, Jozie bounced back a little.  I was completely  in shock as I've never seen this happen (in my 23 years of breeding at that point in time)  so I decided to try tube feeding this little fighter.  To my greater surprise that worked a bit too!  Jozie had fought and stayed alive through that night, through the next day, and so on.  Until a Thursday came along and she was now more than a week old.  I then noticed Jozie's elbows and one rear leg were swelling, which looked suspiciously like bone infection abscesses, I had seen this only one other time in my breeding years and unfortunately, I was correct.  By this point, Jeff,  Brandon, and I were already attached to this little amazing baby who had taken up our home and it was time for Jeff and I to make the trip to the vet, expecting to put her to sleep.  Not wanting to break Brandon's heart at that Friday's vet appointment, Jeff, the vet, and I begrudgingly decided to try to save her - everyone envisioned the worst of her passing that weekend from toxins from the bacteria trying to overtake her tiny, little, one pound body.  Our vet took fluid samples for submission to the lab, we drained the abscesses, and took Jozie home with antibiotics.  Our vet told us to call with anything over the weekend if we needed something.  Our vet was in utter amazement  (as were we!!!) that Jozie was still alive when she personally called to check on Jozie's progress on that  Monday, stating what I'll never forget, "I didn't know if no news was going to mean good news, or bad news".  Jeff and I drained those abscesses for 7 full days until the antibiotics finally started working.  In my now 30 years of breeding, I have never seen such a stronger will to live than in this small, little creature.  Jozie finished her 8 week course of antibiotics and none of us could envision Jozie living anywhere else! Our son Brandon chose to keep her and raise her to be his dog, overseeing her handicaps, solely because she loves him and he loves her back.  It is an amazing relationship to watch and we are lucky to see how much they are bonded and love each other!  Jozie was left with a constant reminder of our journey with her through bone thickening in her right front elbow, her right pelvis, and cartilage thickening in her left ear which causes it to bend backward.  And despite these reminders, we would never change her!  She is a sweetheart, tenacious, a kick in the pants, and everyone who meets her loves her.  We figured that since she fought so hard to live and we fought so very hard to help her live, it was meant to be for her to stay with us for her lifetime!!  There will come a day when she has to leave us for good and we will be absolutely devastated to lose her, we cannot imagine life without our slappy-feet, seal-barking, pool partying, hooky bobbin, popcorn fiend, horrible car rider, "Nosey Jozie', JozenHeimer girl.  She is truly an incredible dog.

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What I wrote so many years ago about her, the day finally came that she had to leave us and I chose to leave her story in tact above.  Our family is devastated beyond words at the loss of this amazing German Shepherd Dog. She taught us many things but the greatest one being that life isn't always made perfect... but if the creature doesn't know that it is not perfect, well, I guess that makes it perfect after all.  Rest in peace forever, our perfect Jozie, we miss you terribly and we will always love you.