Sadly my big friend has departed this world

[hdv]

Once in a while a topic pops up referring to one of men's best friends. Sometimes I contributed to those posts referring to one of our current dogs. One of them was Shermann.

Shermann came to us as an emergency from Sardinia. He was "donated" to a sanctuary over there, but the people of that sanctuary quickly found he was absolutely not a dog that could adapt to those circumstances. He had trouble getting along with other dogs and just couldn't handle all the noise and stress. Many people were afraid of him, due to his size (83 cm at the withers), so the people of the sanctuary put out an urgent call for help. That was 2½ years ago.

When Shermann came to live with us we quickly noticed he had been beaten and no one had even tried to socialize him. It was almost like he had always lived in a closet. He was also very, very skinny. This was a dog with physical and mental trauma. The physical trauma we could do something about. Sadly, in the end we were not able to heal his mental scars. He was a very soft soul that was all too easily damaged because of that softness. 99% of the time he was just a nice, loveable giant. But once in a while he got scared and he didn't know how to handle that. When that happened he would try to bite in his confusion. We never could find out what triggered these episodes. But the frequency and the intensity of these anxiety attacks got higher and higher. In the end it got too dangerous and we had not other choice than to let him find the well-earned peace he longed for. He just couldn't overcome his trauma's and in the end they got the better of him.

It is so sad, because this was done to him by people. Under all that fear there was a wonderful dog that was pure friendliness and that just longed to be part of his family. Too bad that possible future was stolen from him.

R.I.P. Shermann, we will never forget you.

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[rvieceli]

So sorry for your loss. Always hard no matter what the circumstances.

Thoughts and prayers to you and yours.

Ron

 

[peter halle]

What a beautiful dog he was.  And what wonderful thing for you to do in rescuing him and trying to make his situation so much better.  I am sure that without your intervention his time in this world would have been much shorter and certainly would not have been filled with the quality and love that you gave.

Bless you.

Peter

 

[luvmytoolz]

So sorry to hear that, we absolutely worship our little guys, and know what an impact they have!

I'll never understand how people can mistreat the greatest gift to mankind.

 

[RonMiller]

What Peter said. I'm sorry for your grief but thank you for caring for him.

 

[Packard]

Sorry for your loss.

The one failing that all dogs seem to have, is that they don’t live long enough. Though they live long in our memories and in the stories we tell about them.

Maybe we should have a thread were we tell those stories.

 

[tsmi243]

Good boy, Shermann

 

[Sparktrician]

Be grateful for the love and lessons that he brought to you in this life.  He'll be waiting for you at The Bridge.  [sad]

 

[hdv]

Thanks!

He was our fourth rescue dog. The funny thing is that we were told he was the easiest dog ever when we adopted him. Well, in the end he proved to be the one who needed the most of our time and energy. By far. He was just too damaged. But at the same time he was a great individual. There were so many things about him that you could adore that it was easy to accept the bad things as well. We are glad we could at least give him 2½ nice years. You always hope for more. Luckily dogs live in the now. We are convinced he was happy outside of those short periods of anxiety. That's what we try to remember. Still, I hope I'll never meet his first owners...

 

[Cheese]

I feel so bad for you and your family, I know how much it hurts because we had to put down Jackson about 3 months ago. I still can't talk about him without tearing up.  [crying]

It's terrible the amount of damage an incompetent/mean dog owner can do. With the dogs we've had, two were rescue dogs. We worked with Jackson for 2 years before he became "problem free".
However, we worked Roxie for 7 years and she never fully shed her issues, she got a lot better but you could never unconditionally trust her. There was always an edge. Unfortunately, some dogs just never recover, such was probably the case with Shermann.  [sad]

Thanks for posting...sometimes that helps more than just the owner.  [smile]

 

[jeffinsgf]

A really sad story. My heart goes out to you and your family. Thanks for giving him the pleasant time he had.

I hope there's a particularly unpleasant corner of Hell reserved for people who abuse animals.

 

[hdv]

Exactly my thoughts! Couldn't have put it better than you did.

 

[jeffinsgf]

I hope there's a particularly unpleasant corner of heck reserved for people who abuse animals.

Edited by a Puritanical robot somewhere.

 

[Packard]

In Europe there are more options when it comes to large all white dogs.  In the USA we are generally limited to Great Pyrenees or Kuvaszok (Kuvasz, singular).

I would guess a Great Pyrenees, an inherently caring breed.

I just wondered if “hellfire” passed muster.  It appears to be OK.

 

[hdv]

Shermann was a Maremmano-Abruzzese Sheepdog, sometimes also called Mountain Dog of the Maremmas. These are dogs from the lifestock guard dog group. Just like Great Pyrenees, they will protect their flock against all manner of threats. If necessary even at the cost of their own lives. In other words, dogs that shouldn't be afraid of anything. Knowing that, it is so sad to think he was so afraid.

 

[six-point socket II]

So sorry to hear that, my heartfelt condolences to you and your family!

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[hdv]

Danke vielmals!

He is sorely missed. But at least now he doesn't have to be afraid anymore. He can finally get some peace and rest.