Boy, does Sidney have a story to tell. She was an owner-surrender. Sidney had never been to a veterinarian in her entire life. At the time of her surrender, she weighed less than 45 pounds, her body temperature was 90 degrees (normal is 101), her blood pressure was almost unreadible and she could not walk or even lift her head. The owner asked that VGSR take her as she did not want Sidney to die in her house!!! She was rushed to a hospital by one of our dedicated volunteers. The doctors determined that she was near death and they did an extraordinary job saving her life. She was in critical condition for close to 48 hours. She is now in her foster home enjoying a nice bed, three meals a day, receiving the necessary medical care and the love of her entire foster family. What a survivor!!! If it was not for the dedication and prompt action by her rescuer, beautiful Sidney would have died that night and we never would have had the privilege of her being part of the VGSR family. Sidney is a wonderful dog. She just adores people, loves playing with her toys and in little more than two weeks has become an important presence in our home. She is crate trained, house broken, has good manners, enjoys walks, gets along with children, is learning to get along with strange dogs and most of all just loves life. Sidney has gained close to ten pounds, remains a bit weak and long walks can be a struggle as she has little muscle tone but her prognosis is excellent. Sidney is getting stronger every day. So what was wrong with Sidney? It was a simple case of lack of proper medical care. Sidney had a severe case of whipworms that were in the process of killing her. The whole situation could have been avoided if her former owners had only taken her to the vet and treated her for whipworms (less that $100). Please check out our web site at www.shepherdrescue.org for more information about our dogs, our adoption process and to download an application. You must have a fully approved application on file prior to privately meeting our dogs. We do not have a facility, all our dogs are housed in private foster homes throughout MD/DC/VA areas. More information available on our web site, so please read through our web site before emailing questions, as it might save us both some time!

VGSR can only adopt dogs out in the Virginia/Maryland/DC area, no exceptions.

Although donations of all types are needed, our primary need is foster homes for our lovely dogs while they wait for their new family to find them. Fostering is an extremely rewarding experience. Vet care is paid for by our rescue, and we can even provide you with food. All YOU need to add is love and security.

The adoption process starts with the applicant filling out the adoption application. This can happen at any time during the process, before or after having met a GSD that might be the ideal companion. (It's an advantage to have a pre-approved application on file with VGSR. It should be stressed here that being pre-approved does not mean that any potential adopter can select any available dog at will and take that dog home immediately. VGSR will exercise its best judgement as to which GSD will be the best match for that specific adopter based on a number of qualifying criteria. Many GSDs that come to us are matched up with their new people very quickly because their people have been pre-approved.) The applicant then submits the application form with a non-refundable $10.00 processing fee. VGSR reviews the application, then schedules an interview and home visit during which a number of questions are asked and the home is reviewed to be sure there is a contained/safe yard, and to meet the family involved. Once the application is approved, the applicant is asked to submit a $250.00 donation to VGSR, and the adoption is completed.

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