We must have a thing for German dogs.  Our family of five purchased a miniature German Schnauzer (yes, I know this is supposed to be about GSP's!!) about 13 years ago from a pet store. At the time, we had no idea about rescue shelters or anything like that, we just knew that we wanted a mini schnauzer.  Well, time passed and our loving family dog grew old, he grew blind and deaf.  He got around great, played and ate as usual, but of course couldn't see us or hear us call his name. I was very upset that he was getting older and there came a day that he didn't want to eat. Two days passed and still didn't eat. I had decided that if he still had not eaten by the third day, he was going to the vet.  That morning he was happy and wagged his little nub of a tail when he caught my scent, but he still would not eat. I called the vet and they said to bring him in that afternoon so they could check him out.  When I went to get him from the back yard, he wasn't in his usual spot on the big lawn chair recliner all sprawled out trying to get as much of the winter sun as possible; he was stretched out on the grass. He looked as though he were asleep, I walked up to him talking and calling his name even though I knew he wouldn't be able to hear me and still there was no movement. I took a deep breath and knelt down beside him to wake him up, but I knew he was gone. I held him to me and cried that my longtime friend was no longer going to be looking at me with his sweet black eyes or play the games that we had created when he was a pup. I was heartbroken. My family was heartbroken.

Two weeks after we lost our mini Schnauzer...my eight year old daughter decided we needed to 'save' a dog from the shelter. I was NOT ready for another dog so soon.  But the emptiness I felt because we didn't have a dog was more than I could take. She directed us to our local shelter's webpage where we looked at different dogs and read their 'story'. We had decided that we would get a SMALL dog and that we would go the next morning on December 22 to pick one out. I could hardly sleep that night from the excitement and anticipation of bringing a new member into our family!

Loaded up everyone into the "Exploder" and headed on over the shelter. As we drove in, there were a ton of cars in the parking lot and alot of people hanging around. I kind of got nervous that someone had already looked at the dog I had my eye on; a Jack Russell Terrier and had taken him home. Apparently, there was a 'sale' on Christmas Kitties and everyone was there to adopt cats, not dogs...phew! We all rushed into the kennel looking for the dog that we had each chosen in our mind when looking at them on the website. I found the JRT and ruled him out immediately.  He was jumping around like rabbit on crack and barking like crazy, as I watched him from afar. As he grabbed ahold of his blanket and shredded it, I knew this was not the dog for our family and walked away...sadder than ever. 

What really upset me at the shelter was the number of animals there. I know that they are very well taken care of, but just to see all of the unwanted animals was more than heartbreaking, it was disappointing. I was disappointed that a person could take on the responsibility of an animal and then to one day just toss it aside like it was nothing. I wanted to take them all home and knew that I couldn't.  My oldest daughter had been watching all of the dogs, evaluating them on how they reacted when people walked by their kennels. She came over to me and asked if we could take a certain dog out to the play area. I was interested to see which one she thought fit the criteria we had set: small, house-trained, not too old.

It turned out that the dog she was watching was a 9 month old male GSP named by the staff as 'Cooper'. At first, I objected because of his size...too big for me to handle!! But when I gazed into his beautiful brown eyes, it was like he was speaking to my heart. We took him out to the play area and he engaged with each of us, bringing us the toy he had, chasing after it when we threw it, and bringing it back and gently placing it in our hand. He was AMAZING! We all immediately agreed that he was THE ONE for our family and we wanted to take him home with us.  He had gorgeous coloring and very sweet mannerisms, how could we NOT bring him home? We found out that he was a stray and had been at the shelter for about 2 weeks. The shelter had altered him and micro-chipped him as well as gave him the run of immunizations he may or may not have needed. I can't understand why anyone would not have looked for this magnificent dog. His profile is so regal and noble...I just fell in love with him.

We loaded "Cooper" into the Exploder and off we went...not knowing really anything about this animal. Well we immediately found out that he got car-sick, and that whomever had owned him previously allowed him to sit in the front seat! We also found out that he would not leave our coffee cups alone. We didn't give him any coffee, obviously, but it seems as though his previous owner did and "Cooper" was CRAZY about it!  When we arrived home we decided that "Cooper" didn't really fit him...so went about trying to come up with a name that did fit and that he would actually perk up when called.  So after calling him everything from Snoop to Henry...Pepper was the name we all agreed upon and the name he actually came to when called. We also found out that he wa a bed-hog as well a snorer!! Not much sleep was had that first night!!