Rescues

Hey, my name is Shep, and I am top dog! I was abandoned by my former family during the harsh winter of 2009 and spent the entire winter as a puppy in the bitter cold until the Madison County Animal Shelter found me. I was rescued through a Brother Wolf adoption day at Pet Smart in June 2010. I saw Mom walk by my crate, and she couldn’t resist taking me home!

I am such a good boy, and she calls me her perfect child. I’m the alarm clock for the house since I’m up by 5:00 every morning ready to go have fun. My favorite parts of the day are when Mom takes us all on a walk every morning and coming back home for a big breakfast.

My 15th anniversary with Mom and Dad was 6/4/2025, but I’m actually about 16 because I was at least one year old when they adopted me. I have two large, inoperable tumors and have significantly slowed down this year with back problems and weakness in my back legs, but my spirit is still strong!

Mom keeps me on great supplements, and I also see a doggy physical therapist, chiropractor, and acupuncturist to help keep me going and manage my arthritis and pain. I still love my walks, we just don’t go as far now. Mom always slows the pack down for the slowest one, and now that’s me. Hey, at 16 years old, shouldn’t I be driving?!

I love treats of any kind and every meal as they are filled with love. I earned my nickname many years ago as Sous Shep because I’m always right under foot “helping” prepare all the meals.

Hey, I’m Rocky! I turned 5 years old in March, but I wouldn’t have had that chance without all the people who helped rescue me.

Mom and Dad were devastated by the sudden loss of their Shepherd mix Murphy on January 27, 2021, to an aggressive cancer. Our story is unique in how it intertwined in such a special way with the big brother I never got to meet. At 10 months old, I was dumped off at Rusty’s Legacy on Christmas Day 2020, the same day Murphy got so sick. Mom stayed up all night with Murphy that fateful Christmas, and I spent that same Christmas night scared, confused, and abandoned by the family I thought loved me. The same foster mom and shelter that rescued Murphy also rescued me – small world! It gets better: as Murphy’s cancer quickly took over, Mom let Jeri at Rusty’s Legacy know how sick he was and that he would pass soon. The night before my big brother went to heaven, my foster mom sent my mom-to-be a picture of me to “think on,” not knowing Murphy would pass so soon. During January, Camp Bow Wow took me in to help me conquer my fear and anxiety, giving me a better chance of being adopted. I got to play with other dogs all day, and the people there were so nice to me! On February 6, 2021, Mom came to meet me for the first time. She brought Shep, Jordan, and Riley too. They took me with them that day, and I found my forever home.

Mom is my world and my compass, but I still have leftover fear and anxiety issues even with all the love and special care I’ve been given. After four years, I’m still learning that being touched and loved on is okay. With much help and patience from Mom and Dad, Heather from Mindful Mutz, and the incredible teams at Waghab and my vet’s office, I have made huge progress with being social and handling vet visits. Though I want to play, I’m still very reactive and cannot socialize too well. I still struggle to meet other dogs. There’s no doubt that Mom and Dad gave me a second chance at life and love and call me “their favorite dingbat.”

I recently hurt my back as a result of my high-powered energy, but a consistent regimen of physical therapy, chiropractic care, and acupuncture have put me back in action! My favorite things are going for walks and car rides, toys, food, and counter-surfing!

Mom actively sought me through German Shepherd Rescue & Adoption of NC during the summer of 2022 when she lost her dear soulmate Jordan and then Riley just five days later. I was found running the streets of Durham in the spring of 2022 with a terrible past that only I know, but abuse was very evident on the outside to everyone I met. Looking to fill the big hole in her heart with new love, and after just having lost her dad on her birthday in October, my new mom chose me to be her special girl. I came to my new home in Black Mountain on 11/11/2022, very sick and shutdown and only weighing 58 pounds as a full-grown German Shepherd. My given name was Connie, but she named me Rosie to honor her own mom’s childhood nickname.

It’s an understatement that it was a rough start for me. After traveling four hours with Mom to get home, Mom got me comfortable in the living room, and I was so terrified that I crashed through the French doors and escaped through the garage after just five minutes. It took 20 minutes for them to corral me, but fortunately I had gone into a dead-end driveway at the neighbor’s house. If they hadn’t caught me that day, I might still be running! I stayed in the back of the crate for weeks, would barely eat, and destroyed my beds and rugs because I was so anxious and upset. I was terrified of people, especially males, and Mom began to spend time with me in my crate – my safe space – to earn my trust. Before long, Rocky came to be with me in the crate too, and I gradually settled in and allowed them to love me. It took me much longer to trust Dad, and he worked so hard for months and wouldn’t give up on me. I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings for so long, but I couldn’t help it. He’s the best doggy dad, and I’m glad he melted my fearful heart.

The other part of becoming whole was getting healthy. I came with four types of worms, including the very serious heartworm infection. Through great and helpful vet teams, we eradicated the very bad heartworms and completed the long, slow recovery period with Mom and Dad by my side every day for two months. Though this was a scary time, this is when I knew I had a wonderful home and the best pet parents. It took almost a year for me to get healthy, but we finally cleared all the worms from my system.

Like many German Shepherds, I am still high strung and have leftover GI issues sometimes, but Mom and Dad feed me an amazing diet with great supplements that keep me mostly balanced and feeling good. I stay around 70 pounds now, big enough to hold my own with Rocky! I’ve grown into a healthy, confident girl, and now Rocky is the chicken!

It’s been two years now, and Rocky is my best friend, but he gets me in trouble too. I did pick up some of his bad habits from his feral life, and I love running the fence line, chasing critters, and barking at the neighbors’ dogs in tandem with him. I take the lead on all our walks and alert Mom to everything she needs to know. Though being a beautiful girl, I was passed over for months at the shelter because I was so anxious, scared, and shutdown. I’m so glad Mom and Dad gave me all the love I needed to come out of my shell at my own pace and show them how great I am.

Casper was initially seen in Dr. Bowman-Hensley’s neighborhood early June 2023. Dr. Bowman-Hensley caught glimpses of this gorgeous, all-white cat for a few days and eventually found her hanging out under the bird feeder, trying to survive. She was extremely underweight and severely injured. After a few days of feeding her, Dr. Bowman-Hensley realized she was severely hurt and bleeding, so she trapped her on June 13, 2023. Her injuries were consistent with a hawk’s attempt to get her as she had significant puncture wounds around her head. Dr. Bowman-Hensley took her to urgent care and couldn’t turn her back on this beautiful girl who clung to Dr. Bowman-Hensley at the vet’s office late that night. Dr. Bowman-Hensley and Casper both cried, going and coming to the Emergency Animal Hospital, with Dr. Bowman-Hensley not knowing what to do next as she had never had a cat in her life – it was always a house full of dogs.

As the summer progressed, the shelters were full, and their friends and neighbors were unable to care for Casper. Dr. Bowman-Hensley fell in love with this beautiful girl and decided to keep her as her first ever cat. Early on, she and Mike went to great lengths to figure out how to separate her from the dogs at home for fear they would hurt her.

On Casper’s first vet visit, Dr. Bowman-Hensley learned she was microchipped and had at least two previous owners. Her estimated age then was 3-4 years old, which makes her approximately 5 years old now – the same age as Rocky and Rosie!

Casper settled in to becoming a great office cat during the week, and Dr. Bowman-Hensley would take her home when the office was closed. When Jasper joined the family at the office, she took quite an exception to him; though it was hopeful they would become buddies, Casper made it clear that was not going to happen! With Jasper still healing and starting to really become so friendly, Dr. Bowman-Hensley took Casper home for good in the late summer of 2024. She has a great life at home and rules everyone in it, including the dogs! She is everything you expect a cat to be, feisty and spicy, but we love her dearly.

Jasper was part of the litter of feral cats that Dr. Bowman-Hensley and her staff had been taking care of since COVID started. Jasper started coming by the summer of 2022 and had been the most frequent flyer out of all the feral litters. He would lay low in the bushes nearby and wait to see Dr. Bowman-Hensley’s car as he’d become very dependent on those meals. Dr. Bowman-Hensley stayed dedicated to him, always coming twice a day to make sure he was okay and never hungry.

Jasper disappeared in early January 2024, and Dr. Bowman-Hensley’s heart fell as she knew something had probably happened to him. After a few days he reappeared, and Dr. Bowman-Hensley’s fears were confirmed when she and Hannah noticed that he had been seriously hurt. She very much feared for his ability to weather his injuries with the coldest air of the winter coming that weekend. On January 18, 2024, Dr. Bowman-Hensley was referred to Friends 2 Feral, and they helped trap him that day. Because of his serious injuries and overall poor condition, he was hospitalized for the care he desperately needed for 10 of the next 12 days. Dr. Bowman-Hensley worried very much that he would not pull through as he was still very underweight with very serious injuries that needed to heal. Early on, as Dr. Bowman-Hensley gained his trust and started assessing him more fully, it became very apparent that a coyote had likely nearly killed him; she felt it was a miracle he survived the injuries, even with the professional help he received. He was way too sick and injured to turn back outside as is customary, and Dr. Bowman-Hensley and her staff fostered him and nursed him back to health. After three full months, his physical and emotional scars healed nicely, and he started putting on weight and thriving. Very ironically, his first exam showed that he has malformed teeth and likely would have had trouble foraging for food as feral cats must do. This helped explain why he was so consistent with coming for meals, and it is so fitting that he landed at the local dentist office as his new home!

Almost two years have passed since then, and what an amazing transition he’s made! Initially Jasper rehabbed in a spare room at the office, and he became more and more trusting of people, especially those closest to him. Through the summer, Dr. Bowman-Hensley started letting him out at night and would keep him in his room during the day. He’s become quite a gentle soul and handsome with some permanent scars underneath. During the shutdown after Hurricane Helene, Dr. Bowman-Hensley made the decision to give him free run of the office. Except on the busiest days, you will find him greeting you in the hallway, accepting pets from all the patients who are perfect strangers to him! It’s still so amazing that he became such a perfect boy while starting out feral two and a half years ago, and Dr. Bowman-Hensley is so grateful that he’s become trustful of everyone at the office. As for his adopted sister Casper, she’s just not into him!