GSD found guarding owners body after Double Homicide! - Page 2

What a wonderful ending (new beginning) for him. Ti's (not) very funny that they can say a dog is aggressive under the most extreme pressure, losing his family, going to a shelter. I salute you for caring enough about one of your own.
If you do not mind I would love to hear how you found out it was one of yours and what you had to go thru tho get him home.

It was honored to meet this dog today hes a very nice boy

1doggie-  The story is rather as long one but I will share it with you all because it was a lesson to be learned for me.  My husband had become friends with a man by our camp who had to pts his GSD at only 3yrs old.  Long story short we offered to give him Thunder at 9 months old with the agreement that if for any reason ever it did not work out the dog came back to us and I would retain legal ownership on him along with any breeding rights. We got to see the dog every weekend and it appeared Thunder was happy. The man took him to work at the hardware store every day so Thunder was always getting tons of attention up until the man decided to get divorced and got himself a GF and was never home leaving Thunder home alone all the time.  Of course the dog became destructive and the man no longer wanted him. So rather tell us he took it upon himself to place the dog with the people who got killed and he never told us.  Over the winter we closed up our place so we did not have an opportunity to see the dog but my husband would ocassionally talk to the guy we gave the dog to and he always said "Thunder was great". 

As the weather started to break my husband was doing work up our camp and on several different ocassions he stopped to see Thunder and the guy always had some excuse that the dog was "playing at a friends while he was at work". After the 4th time my husband grew suspicious he no longer had the dog or something happend to him so he asked another friend of ours to level with us.  The man thought we knew he was placed with someone else and he told us he was told Thunder was "temporarily" given to these people until the guy moved.  My husband immediately confronted his friend and told him he broke our agreement and demanded the dog back. The guy willing said "oh yes absolutely I will get him back and you can pick him up next week".  This was the weekend BEFORE the family got killed.  That Sunday my husband came home and told me that the following week Thunder would be coming back.  By Sunday evening we got a frantic call from his "friend" telling us this tragic story and that Thunder bit a trooper while guarding the body and he's in quarantine at the humane society.  He still is adament that he did not "give" the dog away.  So first thing Monday morning I called everyone from the dog warden to the humane society to claim the dog.  It was a horrific nightmare.  It took hiring an attorney and the help of some friends to track down the victims daughter in order for me to get the dog back.  I had to sign releases, pay a to of money and fight like hell to get this dog back. 

They told me he was "vicious", he was "trained to bite" (not true, we did nothing but OB with this dog and the people who had him (both of them) had nooo idea about training dogs, they told me no one could get near him accept 1 lady at the shelter....none of it was true when I got there.  He jumped and licked all over us; maybe he remembered us but when we got home he was a gentlemen with the kids and he was fine with my other dogs.  Is he "protective"??  YES!  With "his people he is".  He's not "vicious", he is not an "attack dog" but he is cautious with people that come too close to my husband.  He will growl to warn you you are too close.  He's been through a horrible very violent oredeal.  He's lucky to be alive.  It's rumored that the suspect who killed these folks was a "friend of the victims".  We do not know if Thunder ever had a chance to attack him.  I'm so very happy to have him home even though the second owner neutered him.  I had even had his hips prelimbed before I placed him.  BUT he is a great dog, I love him, I know

After reading your saga Agar, I am so pleased that Thunder survived the ordeal and is back with you and your family to live out his life.  Best wishes.

So glad you got him back and he's safe.  Will there be any legal issues with regard to the trooper or has it been resolved?  Sounds like he's already settled in and it's nice to know he's appreciated.  Great job!

Thank you for sharing your story. It is also wonderful to see he is getting a forever home. I can not imagine the ordeal he went thru. The trooper who got bit and did not shoot him is a special guy!.

I hope Thunder bit the murderer.  I hope it gets infected.

Glad you got him back Agar.

Michele

What a horrible chain of events.  Any clue who the murderer is?  So very happy that you were able to get him back and he is a happy dog.  I have to wonder why he didn't shoot the dog.  Curious.  Keep us updated on any news about the why's and what for's. 

Thank you everyone for all the kind words and wishes.

The "rumor" is the "killer" was a friend or at least well known acquiantance of the couple.  The suspect who is rumored to be responsilble has been arressted but on unrelated charges of robbing a drug store a week prior to the killing and also when the troopers searched his home they found quite a professional "grow house" set up.  The double homicide is still under investigation.

I asked many questions regarding the dog and the circumstances simply because I wanted to have an idea of what the dog was like since the time he lived with us.  The Humane Society was vague although tried to be helpful at the same time because they knew my concern was the dog PERIOD.  All I was told was considering the circumstances that the dog bit all parties agreed it was understandable and I think that is why he was not shot by the troopers. 

I do know an investigator did visit the first owner of the dog and even asked for his homeowner's insurance for the dog bite...not sure why since the dog bite took place at the victims home who claimed him from the 1st guy.

I did have to sign a release holding the Humane Society harmless of any future liability on personal injury or property damage from the date I picked him up from the shelter.  I would assume the victim's estate would be liable of any lawsuit since they've claimed owning the dog at the time this happend.  I also had to sign a release stating I knew the dog had bitten someone and I was accepting any liability from the date I regained ownership of him.

I was told by the victim's daughter that Thunder was very protective of his family and would growl at any adult that approached her parents, especially her dad.  He was great with kids and did better with women than men IF he was introduced to them first without them approaching him and his owner on their own.

We too have noticed this to be the case with him since we've had him so we just use caution to protect everyone.