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Since my adulthood, all my dogs have been my little "dumplings" -- they were "dumped". They either came from a shelter or I adopted them from someone who could no longer care for them.

This poor German Shepard is probably heartsick over the loss of his owner. Dogs don't completely recover from incidents like this.

I was the third owner (that I know of) for my last dog. She never "fit in" with her last owners. My daughter and I went to their home, met the dog, petted her and talked to her. She climbed right into our car and never looked back. But she was always distressed about being left alone.

I'm the third owner of the dog I have now. Her original owner was a young woman in the Navy, but couldn't keep the dog when she was shipped overseas. The dog was shipped several states away to her parents, but they travelled a lot and the poor animal lived in a kennel more than a home. By the time I got her, she was a nervous wreck.

For the first year I had her she still had to "nose-up" to every 5'5" woman with long dark hair to check if that was her original "Mommy". After being parted from her owner for two and a half years, the little dog was still looking.

It took a little over a year for my little dog to become really comfortable and confident in her new home. For the first six months, she was so wild, I wasn't sure I could keep her. Although she likes riding in the car, she still whimpers with anxiety when the ride lasts more than a few minutes. She's now a very happy and fun little dog and a great family pet. But it took a lot of patience and love for her to become secure.

I truly hope that old shepard will find his lifelong friend.

I'm so glad you posted that because I've recently acquired a little dog whose "mommy" died. She lived with relatives of the woman for six months, mostly in her kennel because they had a large dog that didn't get along with her. She is very loving, but when I leave her and then come back she barks and barks at me, I mean she looks me in the eye and gives me what for. I now think she is suffering from separation anxiety and I'll try to be more affectionate when I come home (altho I'm pretty affectionate with her now).

Thank you for taking in strays instead of 'that cute puppy in the window'. We currently have three pound puppies and I couldn't be happier with them. All were adults when we got them. The first ended up being older (much) than we thought she was. I trained her a a service dog and here just a short year later we are already having to think about retiring her. So last week I went to the shelter and adopted two more dogs. Both had been abandoned and I'm pretty sure Bell (St. Bernard/black lab mix) was abused. But they are both just the sweetest things .