We always had to be careful in going up the stairs because Thunder would try to follow...even when unable to walk.  One of my last memories of Thunder occurred when I went to another room to do some work. Thunder somehow managed to use his front paws to drag himself across the floor into the next room where I was sitting. He promptly curled up next to my chair to assume his "guard dog" position.

 

 

It’s hard to know what to say about Thunder, how do you talk about 14 plus years of a good life in a good dog? 

Thunder was my boy, I always felt safe when I was home alone. I truly was never home alone with Thunder with me. I used to think he would bark too much, we never got the stop-bark training down and now that it is gone, I miss it.

I miss knowing Thunder waits by the front door when I travel, or even how he would position himself between me and Mark, if we were in different parts of the house, as if not able to decide where he should be, but getting in between to get the happy medium.  He wanted to protect and watch over both of us. I miss Thunder barking when we get home. We had a rash of burglaries in our area the month before Thunder left us. Even though Thunder was not able to move much in his last month, I knew his bark would still be there and scare people off.

Thunder was called puppy for the first month or so we had him. We could not decide on a name.  I do not remember how, but we came up with Thunder and how prophetic that proved to be. I used to call him barky boy a lot. It suited him so well.

Thunder was more than a bark of course. We had him in our moves from Chicago to Texas to California. He thrived wherever we were. He liked the water and he got to swim quite a bit.  He preferred fresh water to salt water, but he got lots of fun time in the ocean too. For a German Shepherd Dog; he really liked chasing a tennis ball, I think he got that from growing up and living with Golden Retrievers.  First Alex and then Disco; it was years later that I found out how much he missed Alex after he left us. He would howl in our backyard and got out of the kennel area we had for him. When we brought Disco home, it took him only a day or two to adapt.

Thunder, go safely to the Rainbow Bridge and meet up with Alex and Oscar.  You will always be in our hearts and we will always miss you. We will see you soon, Love, Mom, Dad and Disco.