Remembering Rebel

Rebel and brother Rex

Entry for June 17, 2009–Rebel tells his story

My name is Rebel, and this is my story…
I was born in the wee hours of August 21, 2001.  My human mom was very tired, as she had been at the funeral for her mom that day but she still got up in the middle of the night to be with my mommy and hold us all after we were born.   The air was crisp for an August evening but we were very warm and snuggly with our mommies to take care of us.   There was 13 of us born that night, but 5 of my brothers and sisters never took their first breath.   Both mommies worked very hard to make them breathe, but I guess God needed them in Heaven.   The puppy doctor said it was for the best but I don’t quite understand that …..
We had a GREAT life …. lots of space to run and play with our mommy and daddy.  Our mommy took such good care of us…loving us, feeding us (until we got teeth and then she said, NO MORE) lol …. Lots of yummy food came from our human mommy then …. we certainly were lil’ piggies.   Six of our brothers and sister went to live with friends and acquaintences and it was just Rex and I with mommy and daddy.  It was sad when our siblings left…our human mommy sure cried a lot….but I think mommy and daddy were kind of glad all the commotion of all those puppies was over, teehee.  There’s lots of puppy pictures at www.premiereshepherds.org if anyone wants to look at how cute we all were
We settled into a comfortable life …. eat, sleep, play … what more could a dog ask for?   Rex and I stayed outside most of the time, unless it was raining or too cold…or too hot…or human mommy just wanted us inside to love on (which she did a lot).   I was her favorite …. I was a true blue, momma’s boy.   I was by her side all the time … licking her or doing something silly to make her laugh.  She laughed a lot when I was around.    My name was Rebel for a reason.   I was the only one she had no trouble finding a name for, hmmmm …. I wasn’t mean or destructive, I just marched to the beat of my own drummer.  I was always finding ways to do things my own way, I mean, why do things like everybody else?   When my family was laying out relaxing on the ground…I layed on the lounge chair…or on top of the table…or used a rock from the fire ring as a pillow.  Of course, my fav lounge spot was on mommy’s bed. 
Life was good here….Rex and I guarded the place at night…a German Shepherd needs a “job”.   We need to feel important, need to have a purpose.  Our purpose was to make sure both our mommy’s and daddy’s  and our property was safe at night.   We did a good job of protecting everyone we loved.   We live out in the country and it’s a pretty good place to be … except for a neighbor who had questionable acquaintences over.  They would be out at all hours, being loud and rowdy and we would smell funny smells from their place.   Our property surrounds theirs, so we could see everything going on.   We made sure they knew we were here….we were protecting our people and our property.   They didn’t like us very much…I guess because we put a “crimp” in their partying.   Our people work hard and need their rest.   We were proud for taking care of our own.
One rainy day, November 2005 … when mommy came home from work, she came out to get us to let us in the house.  Rex was in his house and wouldn’t come out.  Me?  ha, I ran right in that door she held open.  She kept calling Rex but he wouldn’t come out so she went out to get him.   She had to drag him out of his house practically, but she got him in the house.  While cuddling him and checking him out, she found several wounds all over his back end.  Horrified, she called the vet and got him in right away.  After shaving his backend, the vet concluded he had a load of buckshot in him!!   Mommy was soooooo mad and upset, she almost wrecked driving back home.   Even though she didn’t see what happened…she knew who had done it.   No way to prove it though…..
and then………
One sunny, Sunday morning…January 15, 2006….human mommy let our mommy and daddy outside about 7:30 a.m. to potty and we greeted everyone with licks and tail wags.   I loved our morning greetings …. human mommy always gave me a big hug and kiss and I’d lick her face all over and she’d laugh and laugh.   Human daddy went to work and our doggy family just romped around…pottying and inspecting the property.   Rex and I discovered something we’d never seen before…an open gate.  Hmmm, wonder what is on the other side of this gate……..(nothing good we found out.)  We wandered around the fence line…we have have over 4 acres so there’s a lot of fence to wander around.   I honestly think we were looking for a way to back into our mommy and daddy, but we made the mistake of wandering into “the bad mans” yard.   We didn’t do anything….we did not hurt anyone or anything.  All we did was walk around.  We were walking against our fence, trying to get back home when….The next thing I know….there’s a really loud BOOM….pain in my backend and backs of my legs….mommy yelling, “what the *%$@ are you doing?”  I look at her with my most sorrowful face and fall on the ground.  Rex runs in the house and human brother Michael picks me up and carries me into the house and gently lays me on the floor.   I see Rex limping around me…bleeding… mom lays in the floor with me, holding my head and looking into my eyes.  She keeps telling me how much she loves me and that she’s going to make me all better….she held me as I took my first breath and she held me as I took my last.