Over the years all of the GSDs I have owned have been blood donors to the University of Pennsylvania Blood Bank. The school has a special blood mobile for our area, that meets approximately every 6 weeks. We feel this is a wonderful way for our dogs to help other companion dogs in need. Max was our first blood donor. He was followed by Kira and Harry. Currently Emma, Tobe and Cinder are donors. Isaac is getting used to the idea and hopefully will also be a habitual donor. Emma will have donated one gallon of blood on her next donation, joining Max in this accomplishment. Aimee is just at the weight limit for blood donation so we are not sure if she will be a donor or not, it will all depend on her size at full maturity. Below are some photos from our recent blood mobile visit.
Cinder waiting to donate for the first time. She was great!
Cinder, getting ready to donate, looks at the photo of “Bogie” one of the many pets helped through blood donations. Bogie’s family made a large donation to help the school purchase the new state of the art bloodmobile. You can read about it at this link
This is an article that appeared in the January 06’ issue of Purina’s Pro Club newsletter. The article highlighted Beth’s relationship with Harry and the effect of his sudden death. We suspect it was an Inherited Ventricular Arrhythmia that took Harry from us although we have no way to be sure. Cherri was interviewed for the article and the writer took special interest in the effect that this had on Elizabeth as it showed the devastation and heartbreak this terrible event can cause. Beth’s letter to Harry was edited for size to see the entire letter please visit Harry’s memorial page, it is very touching. Our hope is that with increased awareness we can begin to understand more about this problem in our breed and seek to prevent the death of many companions animals.
Isaac getting treats and loving from the techs and Donna Oakley (program founder) to get him used to the surroundings, he is slower to warm up to things so this time was a trial run. He did great and even laid on the table. It is preferred to not stress dogs out for their donation.
