ANNE & I ARE OVERWHELMED WITH YOUR CONDOLENCES:
As You Know . . . On September 29, 2023, Anne & I Ended The Life Of Our Magnificent Tavor.
Our Home Has Not Felt this Empty since the Day Stryker Left-Us Almost Three Years Ago. And if I was to Tell you that My Heart Isn’t Broken to the Core, I Would Be Lying To You Through My Teeth.
Yesterday . . . With Rake & Shovel, I Smoothed Over the Area that is Now Tavor’s Final Resting Place. It was Several Hours of Hard Work in the Sun & Heat to Move all the Weeds, Rocks & Clumps of Earth. But In The Long Run – And Between Tears, It Was Cathartic.
TAVOR DESERVED NO LESS THAN THE RESPECT OF ALL MY EFFORTS:
It Is Indeed A Great Tribute To Our Late German Shepherd Dog Tavor, that So Many People, by the Hundreds, Many of Whom could Only Relate to Tavor by Photos & Stories, which Anne & I Posted over the Past 2 1/2 Years . . . Anne On Facebook, Myself On Galganov.com.
Your Condolences Have Given Anne & Myself Great Comfort . . . Thank You For That.
IT IS NEITHER PRODUCTIVE NOR HEALTHY TO DWELL ON THE PAST:
We Can’t Bring Tavor Back. And We Will Not Be Without Another Dog. So as I wrote in my Last Editorial, we will Buy Another Dog Without Delay. And that is What We Attempted to Do on Saturday . . . September 30, 2023. But Not All Things Work-Out As Planned.
We Went To A German Shepherd Breeder About An Hour’s Drive From Us. And Before Making the Appointment with the Breeder, I Asked if she would Mind if we Brought Larry, the Magnificent Dog Trainer who Trained our Last Three Dogs, Including Tavor.
As I Had Written Before About Larry . . . Larry is a Retired American/Canadian with More Experience & Expertise in Assessing & Training German Shepherd Dogs than Anyone Else I Can Imagine, Especially with his Bona-Fides of Training German Shepherd Dogs for the US Military & American Police Departments.
Anne & I Cajoled Larry Into Coming Out Of Retirement To Help Us With Tavor, which He Did. But Even with Larry’s Incredible Expertise, Larry Made it Clear to us that Tavor was an Incredible Dog, Exceptionally Smart, 100% Devoted to Anne & Myself . . . BUT – We Had To Think Of Tavor “As A Hand Grenade With The Pin Half Pulled”, who will Never Be a Pet, will Always be Dangerous & Could Never be Brought Near People.
We Visited This Kennel & For Multiple Reasons . . . Our Answer To This Puppy Was No.
But Not To Be Deterred . . . And Not to Rush Into Buying the First “Acceptable” German Shepherd Puppy, we Focused on Breeders we Might be Able to Trust.
Then . . . Low & Behold.
A Good Friend Of Ours From Tennessee – Frank, who we First Met, Along with his Wife Karen, in Hill Country just Outside Austin Texas About 5-Years Ago, and then Spent the Following Summer Together in Texas with Anne, Stryker & Me . . . Called to Express His & His Wife’s Sadness at Our News, Especially since they Loved Stryker & Really Appreciated the Stories & Photos of Tavor . . .
Then Bells Started To Ring In My Head.
Frank – Who Comes From A Big Southern Family Of Down-Home Country Folk, Spanning States Like Georgia, Florida, West Virginiana, Pennsylvania & Tennessee . . . Told Anne & Myself some 5-Years Ago, while Frank & Karen Made their Usual Big Fuss Over Stryker, that Frank Had a Cousin who Bred Some of the Best European West German Shepherd Dogs Anywhere.
So Anne & I Called Frank’s Cousin, who Lives Near the State-Line Dividing West Virginia/Pennsylvania to See What they Might Have to Offer. And to our Great Surprise, they Knew all About Stryker from Frank & Karen, and Somewhat About Anne & Myself . . . It Was Almost As If By Extension, We Were Kin To Them As Well.
FLY-OVER PEOPLE ARE IN A SPECIAL POSITIVE CLASS ALL BY THEMSELVES:
We Spoke With Frank’s Cousin Christina At Great Length, About all things German Shepherd, to Life-Style and our Mutual Personal Philosophies. It wasn’t the First Time Frank Introduced Me to His Family, Who Never Disappointed Me With Their Generous Welcome, Kindness & Inclusion.
You Know How Sometimes You Meet Someone & It’s As If You Knew Him Or Her Your Whole Life.
THE PUP HASN’T BEEN BORN YET . . . BUT THE DEAL IS ALREADY DONE:
By The End Of October . . . Anne & I Will Veer-Off our Route to Myrtle Beach & Stop-Off at Vom Goodchris German Shepherd Breeders, where We will Meet with the Owners & Seal the Deal. The Two Breeding Shepherds, Both of Whom they Own, Haven’t Bred Yet. And Neither Has Another of their German Shepherd Dogs (Black), which is Insurance if the First Breeding Doesn’t Take.
But If It All Works-Out, the Mom Will Give Birth to Her Litter in a Few Months, which will be Available for Adoption by February (8-Weeks), When Anne & I Will Drive the 500-Miles from Myrtle Beach to their Kennel & Back Again (To Myrtle Beach) with our New German Shepherd Puppy-Dog.
In Case You’re Curious . . . Anne & Have Complete Trust in Frank’s Integrity & Judgment . . . And from Whom we’ve Met in Frank’s Family, We Can Say the Same About Frank’s Kin. But Nonetheless, Anne & I Did Some Serious Due Diligence About the Quality of the Pedigree of the German Shepherd Dogs of . . . Vom Goodchris German Shepherds . . . And We Came-Away Smiling.
The Deal Is Simple . . . We Agreed To Price, Pick Of The Litter & A Male German Shepherd Dog.
NOTHING WILL EVER REPLACE THE WONDERFUL DOGS WE’VE HAD & LOST:
We All Need Something Or Someone To Look-Forward-To . . . And Misery Shouldn’t be a Companion to Look Forward-To. But A New Puppy-Is.
We Woke this Morning Feeling No Better Today than we Did Yesterday, Nor the Day Before. But at Least we Woke Today with Something Good to Look Forward-To, which will Definitely Help to Soften the Blow and Give-Us Some Positive Purpose for the Future.
That Puppy Hasn’t Been Conceived Yet . . .
AND HAS NO IDEA OF ALL THAT IS ALREADY UPON HIS SHOULDERS:
Life Carries-On & Time Waits For No-One . . . Even In Grief.
Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov
20 Comments
Dogs are a gift from God, a special companion to bring love and sparkles to our lives. I hope this works out for you both and that the grief isn’t too painful. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to put Tavor down. I’ve had to do it with several old and ill dogs, which itself is hard enough. Wow. Best to you. We’ll pray for God’s pick of a perfect dog for you!
This just brought joy to my heart and a smile on my face. Huggsesess Andy
That’s awesome!! Sometimes we have to wait patiently for the best things in life. I’d say this just might be one of those waits. Congrats, though a bit early. Anxiously wait til Feb when we can see a pic and hear all about him. Best to you both as you count the days/months.
Yahoo!!! Well done, and Tavor will be giving instructions and help from his side, too!!! You know how much he loves you and Anne.
We never cease to grieve our losses, but we learn how to live with the grief. How good it is that you and Anne will have this sweet anticipation to temper the pain of losing Tavor. Best wishes now and moving forward.
Glad to hear you have a new dog coming. I hope it will be yours and Anne‘s friend and trust worthy companion for the rest of your lives.
I do wish you’d look into German Shepherd Rescue ♥️.
So sad for the loss of Stryker and Travor. So happy for your purchase of GS #3. They are such wonderful dogs and it is easy to grieve with you.
My dog may not be much over 12 inches long but he has a heart as large as a football field. When I show up at the house his tail is going so fast one would think he would fly away and he tries to fly into my arms. He can not hear a thing and his sight may not be great, but he and his sister, also death, only want to sit on me & give me kisses. Pray you get what you seek.
I missed the comment window for your previous editorial. I offer my most sincere condolences and sympathies for you loss. They are family, in their way, and demonstrate love and concern for those they are close to and care about.
Looking forward to meeting you and you meeting our furry family. We cannot replace the ones we have lost in our hearts but can only hope to fill a part of the hole they have left with more love. Thank you for trusting us to help you find your next German Shepherd family member ❤️
With the maximum life span of German Shepherds in general not living past 13 years according to my internet research, Tavor at only 2½ years old which was way, way too soon and way too young. At least now there is a light visible at the end of the tunnel and hope you finally get another dog you really want, be as good or better than Stryker and Tavor were, and that he lives to the maximum years a German Sheppard can live to and if longer than that, the better. Good Luck Sir !!!!
So sorry that you lost Trevor. We have a love story with Golden Retrievers and can appreciate the love you have for both of your puppies. I read your newsletter every day. Thank you for sharing your conservative views to us. I forward the newsletters to my e mail lists and post them on Facebook.
Your puppy will bring hope and love anew. It will also give you all some time to put the worse grief behind you. We were so upset that we lost our last dog. We vowed never to have a dog again. We went 2 yrs the longest we ever went without a dog. Missed the love of a dog so much. We adopted Dorothy our Chesapeake Retriever mix and 4 years later adopted Sarah our whipped/hound mix. Never want to be without doggie love again!
Congratulations this is awesome news. Howard & Anne your wait for a puppy will fly by, which will give you both time to grieve. Spring will see a new life in your hearts, all the best going forward. Looking forward to seeing all the pictures.
I’m so happy for you to have something to look forward to. I miss my doggie and husband so much. Can’t replace my husband but, someday soon, I will search for a fur baby to fill my home with canine love. My heart is with you and Anne. Shed many tears for you and Tavor. Can barely make it through the day without my doggie. Sending prayers.
Only a Dog owner knows the depth of the Sorrow of a loss of a DAWG! The Rainbow Bridge Poem helps ease the misery of loss. Prayers Said!
Happy to hear that you’re adopting another pup, after your hearts have had more time to heal. Have you ever considered getting two dogs? Perhaps a male & a female to be companions for each other as well as to you & Anne? Being such loving & devoted “parents”, I’m sure there’s room in both of your hearts to become a family of four! God bless you both! Marge Fitzgerald
I will be praying for you and Anne and your new addition also. The hole in your hearts will eventually be filled with your fond and loving memories of beautiful Tavor.
Sorry I missed your last blog and just catching up. So sad to hear you lost Tavor after such a short time with you and Anne. I can relate to your feelings having had to do the same with German shepherd dogs. Time has a way of changing sorrow into joy as I’m sure it will when you get your new dog yet to be delivered.
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