Misty was a four and a half year old female Weim. She was rehomed early in life, nine months. Her new home couldn't handle her and they surrendered her to our rescue. We placed Misty very quickly, but she was returned within a night because she growled at her new people when they tried to get her off their couch. Misty had a very alpha personality. We brought Misty into foster care, had her evaluated, and she was a typical young female Weim with attitude. We found her the best home - with a couple who was very involved with the club. They later adopted another hard luck case from us. The summer of 2005, Misty had a biting incident. Her owners worked very hard with her, but there was something in Misty that was a little different. Just before Christmas, she attacked a family member's pug. Her owners knew that no matter how much work they could do with her, she would always be too unpredictable. They let her go over the Rainbow Bridge just before Christmas.

You could call it love at first site. The moment I laid eyes on Otto posted on the MHWC website I knew he was ours. My husband on the other hand called me crazy and asked "Why on earth would we want to adopt a nine year old dog?" He sure changed his tune when he met Otto in person. The big beautiful old guy greeted us warmly with kisses and wagging tail.

Otto spent his first 9 years in a household that became victim of a divorce. Otto was not a part of either his mother’s or father’s future. Fortunately for us, they relinquished him to Weimaraner Rescue.

We were shocked to hear that Otto was nearly euthanized a few weeks prior to coming to live with us. He was placed in the home of a foster mother who labeled him as "unadoptable." Poor Otto was sent to the kennel to await euthanization.

Fortunately Michelle Daum the Rescue Coordinator felt something was not quite right. She phoned the kennel the morning of Otto’s schedulded euthanization and asked them not to proceed. She wanted to give Otto another chance at life.

He immediately blended into our family of 4 boys and 1 year old Lhasa Apso. He was so funny, well behaved, great mannered and obedient. With the boys in constant motion and daily chaos ours is not a quiet or relaxing household. But Otto loved it and he enjoyed being in the center of it all. He enjoyed our morning and evening walks and running off leash out at Chatfield. He became the protective "older brother" for Maggie our Lhasa Apso. She really taunted him she slept on his pillow, and took things from him. Otto never so much as snarled at her. He just let her get away with anything, again a perfect gentleman.

Though I desperately wanted Otto’s story to have a happy ending, I write this with a heavy heart. We had to put Otto to "sleep" this morning. Our brave boy had too many medical challenges. Beginning with an operation to remove ugly mast cell tumors. After that operation things just started going downhill. To our surprise, not even healed from his operation, we found several other tumors had surfaced. Worst of all Otto suffered a severe skin rash that caused his hair to fall out. It turned his skin bright red causing itching night and day. Steroids, antihistamines, medicated shampoos and conditioners and even prayers didn’t help this poor guy. Otto underwent skin scrapings, skin biopsies, several aspirations, x -rays, and bi-weekly visits to the vet. The amazing thing is that Otto would wag his tail throughout all of these painful procedures, never even a whimper -what a brave boy! I wonder if Otto waited until he found his forever home to get sick. He must have known that we would do everything in our power to help along his final journey. Otto leaves behind a loving family and four very sad little boys. Though we only had Otto for a short time, we were blessed to have him. We will forever remember what a brave and strong old guy he was and we can only lead by his example.

Zeus's owner fell on hard times, but she found Zeus (and his Weim sister, Mica) a great home, or so she thought. After having the dogs for a month, the new owners dropped both dogs in the night drop box at the Denver Dumb Friends League. Zeus and Mica were adopted together and poor Zeus was returned three days later. Zeus was going to be a tough placement as he couldn't go to dog parks and frolic with the other dogs - he was attacked as a young dog by three dogs and never got over that. He loved his sister, Mica, so without her around, the separation anxiety he experienced was more than most owners could bear. His ordeal with new owners, the shelter, more new owners, the shelter again, cost him 25 pounds and a bad case of kennel cough. Zeus had become a horribly frightened, untrusting, scared dog who would require years of rehabilitation to undo what had been inadvertently done to him. The kindest thing to do was to let Zeus go. We all hope that Mica's home will truly be her forever home and that Zeus will wait for her over the rainbow bridge.

From the moment that we first met Shelby, I knew that she wasn't going to leave our house. She came to us as a foster, but I felt that she had always been with us. I called her Shelby Grace - she just had a lovely gracefulness about her at all times...
Shelby came to us after being left at the shelter, and was considered a "three time loser" - she had been returned there twice after adoption because she wet in the house. My husband could tell right away that she actually had a urinary tract infection, and she was fine as soon as we got her treated properly. (Just goes to show that there's usually a reason for perceived 'bad behavior'..!) Shelby fit into our household right away, and it was a joy to be around her. She especially liked spending long weekends out in Westcliffe, having the run of the 35-acre-woods with our other two big dogs chasing along beside her.

Shelby's time with us was far too short. All the years of urinary problems caused eventual damage, and after only a year and a half she succumbed to kidney failure in May 2005. I miss her snuggling up on the bed with me to sleep, and curling up with me on the couch to watch TV at night. She was a sweet and gentle Weim soul - and I think she still is, because I feel her with me every day even now.