Welcome German Shepherd Dog Lovers,
We are a pure breed German Shepherd Dog rescue. Our first priority is to rescue German Shepherd Dogs and Puppies from Animal Control facilities where they might otherwise be "put to sleep" without the intervention of a rescue. When space allows we accepts dogs from owners seeking to surrender their pet. The sad reality is there are more German Shepherds needing to be rescued than we can help.
Volunteers are the heart and soul of this non-profit organization. No salaries are paid from our CEO to our dog walkers. This includes our accountant and attorney.
Please explore this site to learn more. Call or email us to learn more about our dogs and puppies. Thank you for visiting us.
German Shepherd Dogs REQUIRE leadership, exercise, training and rules, stimulation for their brains, frequent grooming, veterinarian care, and unlimited amounts of love to reach their full potential. This applies double to rescue dogs and puppies.
Great German Shepherd Dogs aren't born, they are created when humans treat them appropriately. Whether you adopt a puppy or a dog the needs are the same. Puppies are a bundle of possibilities, while dogs are a known quantity.
Some German Shepherd Dogs need a little more help to live happily in society. Enter a rescue. Throughout our pages you will learn what extra services we bring to dogs in need.
Our dogs and puppies live with foster families whenever possible while awaiting their permanent homes. We do our best to socialize, housebreak, and provide basic obedience. All our dogs are spayed or neutered, given appropriate vaccinations, heart worm tested, and treated according to veterinarian recommendations, plus each dog has a micro chip. Because of the large volume of German Shepherd Dogs needing to be rehomed we are now housing our overflow dogs at an excellent kennel, Red Woof Inn, Lake Panasoffkee, FL, until space in a foster home opens.
Learn more about our rescue organization and how we function. We are always seeking foster homes to allow us to rescue more dogs and puppies. Ever wonder how rescue groups set their adoption fees, decide which dogs and puppies to rescue and more? Then come inside and find out.
You can reach us by telephone, Email or Fax. Our questionnaire is in Adobe Reader format. Please download this free program if you do not have it. Still experiencing difficulties, then just give us a call at 352-399-2202 and we'll help you complete the questionnaire.
Our Team
We believe we have a dynamic team of individuals working together to provide the dogs and puppies in this rescue the services they require to be productive, happy members of society.
Our front line is manned by the foster homes and people that work with the dogs on a daily basis. These men and women provide stability, structure, and love many of these dogs have not as yet experienced. The foster dogs work daily with their charges as needed to help the animal be more adoptable.
Our veterinarians are A. Leigh McBride, DVM, Sumter County Animal Hospital, and Peggy Fleming, DVM, Florida Acupuncture Center. Dr. Fleming in addition to being a vet is a certified acupuncturist, homeopath and chiropractor. Through these caring individuals our dogs receive the best care available anywhere and are treated with dignity and respect. Dr. Terry Marie Curtis, a behaviorist from the University of Florida, Gainesville, generously evaluates the dogs we have that need special attention, whether it is for fear issues, for being poorly socialized, or for being aggressive.
The fifth point on our star is the great folks at Red Woof Inn, Lake Panasoffkee, FL. The Chang family loving care for dogs at their boarding kennel that we accept without a foster home to house them. Many times not accepting these dogs would mean certain death. Doreen, the Mom, and Heather, one of the daughters, lovingly donate their time to play with and socialize the dogs at their facility until we can move them into foster homes. Without these fabulous people more German Shepherd Dogs would be euthanized. Call them today to board your dog or cat - 1623 NW 20th St., Lake Panasoffkee, FL - 352-568-7216.
We are seeking people to volunteer as temporary foster parents to our dogs and puppies. Volunteers are vital to our organization. Contact us today to find out more about this fun and exciting opportunity.
WE NEED YOU NOW!
PLEASE HELP US TODAY
The phone rings.
“A German Shepherd Dog is in trouble”, the caller says, adding, “Can you help? She jumped out of the back of a pickup. Her leg is fractured.”
Visions of amputation cloud my mind and tears blur my vision.
Three short weeks before KC, a fourteen-month-old puppy, came to us with the same story. KC’s leg couldn't be saved. It was cut off. “Please God,” I pray silently, “let this time be different.”
“Have you seen the X-rays?” asks Dr. Rick Erwin. “No, is it that bad?” I query with my eyes begging for good news.
“It’s bad, very bad,” says Dr. Erwin. “Let me get a bone and show you.”
Dr. Erwin explains when Jana jumped out of the truck she fractured the femur in three places. My blood runs cold. It’s KC all over again, I think as I plaster a smile on my face and listen. The femur twisted and fractured, then it fractured longwise and lastly it fractured in the knee joint.
I surprise myself, no tears this time.
“Dr. Rick,” I implore, “look at her. You can save this leg. Think outside the box. Use mesh to hold the bone together and let it heal itself. You can do it. I know you can.”
“You don’t understand,” says Dr. Erwin. “I see about one of these a week. I hate cutting off a dog’s leg. Sometimes we have too. You don’t want this dog to live in pain.”
YOUR HELP IS VITAL TO SAVE GERMAN SHEPHERD DOGS AND PUPPIES
No, I agree, Jana is too nice a dog to allow that outcome. “But, Dr. Rick, please, try something first. You can always amputate. Miracles do happen. You know you have amazing talents. Try, I’m just asking you to try.”
“Okay,” he says tired of arguing with me. “I’ll tell you what, we don’t normally operate on Saturdays, but she needs immediate help. We’ll go in and try to repair the leg. If we can’t or it will destine her to live in pain I’ll do the amputation.”
“That’s all I ask,” I tell him.
Leaving the practice drained yet feeling confident if anyone can save this leg it is Dr. Erwin. Yes, this vet and his daughter, Dr. Cara Oliver-Erwin, also a vet, and their
associate, Dr. Julia Richardson, all walk on water. I think that highly of them.
Saturday comes, and no word. I call a couple of times starting to fret.
The fretting was justified as in the end as Jana lost her life due to complications from falling out of the truck. Anger rips through me. I want to break someone – namely the person or persons that put her in that truck. Why does a person think it’s okay to put a dog in the back of truck without a properly secured crate? Jana lost her life to this stupidity and KC lost her leg, both very high prices for a human’s decision to be irresponsible.
And this is just the story of two German Shepherd Dogs in this rescue.
Every dog and puppy that comes to us has a story and they all come to us in need. We try to take dogs and puppies first from animal control facilities and humane societies as they face death without rescue. Understand pulling from these facilities usually means getting a sick
dog – the dreaded kennel cough that sometimes turns to pneumonia.
Please understand Lassie or Rin Tin Tin does not come to rescue. Dogs of this caliber do not need us. Dogs that are friendly and outgoing are placed for adoption. Adoption always comes before rescue. And still rescue saves untold dogs and puppies. The down side is each “rescue” takes money for vets, money for food, money sometimes for psychological help, money sometimes to spring the dog from the facility, money sometimes for a kennel if no foster home is available.
The angels that volunteer to be foster parents are fabulous. They take these unruly, frequently not housebroken or obedience trained animals into their homes and hearts and step by step rehabilitate them. Then in the ultimate act of love, let go to an approved adoptive family. And the process starts again. Or we lose the foster home when it becomes the adoptive home. Regardless, there are never enough foster homes, never enough money, never enough anything except dogs and puppies needing to be rescued. We use board kennels to keep the dogs safe and it is cost prohibitive. So what is an answer?
Our dream is to create a sanctuary where volunteers come and work with the fabulous, majestic animals daily. Where socialized dogs and puppies can run free across green fields, play on doggy equipment, swim in kiddie pools and live communally with other dogs and people. Dogs that are not social can get special attention to rehabilitate them so they can join the pack at play. Imagine happy dogs with tails wagging, not dogs sitting depressed in small kennel runs with the smell of death around them. What would you give to help make this happen, money maybe? We dream of purchasing land and building a public boarding kennel, grooming salon, a training center, and a retail doggy supplies store to operate as a for profit business to financially provide for the rescue of German Shepherd Dogs and Puppies. One or two people alone are not likely to make this happen. The more people that join together and donate to the purchase of land and six months operating funds while we get up and started means the sooner we can have a place to help more German Shepherd Dogs. Of course, the donation is tax deducible. We at German Shepherd Rescue of Central Florida are willing to work and work hard to save German Shepherd Dogs and Puppies. We simply need a hand getting started. Right now we are turning away about a dozen dogs and puppies a day as we do not have room or funds to care for them. Your donation will change that forever. Monies designated as down payment on land will be held in escrow by our accountant and used only when we make the down payment on the land to be the home for these majestic, proud beings to live well until adopted by a person or family.
