05/14/2026
Well, we have had one hell of a week, that I'm still reeling from! As many know, my partner works in NYC, and unfortunately, we have two homes as the commute from the Hudson Valley down to NYC is and can be very, very taxing and tiring… So he spends half the week down there and then half a week in the Hudson Valley with me… One of the reasons that I fell for him was because he had an incredible love of dogs, and when I met his little puffball, Mia, she was the sweetest thing ever! For those of you who know me personally, y'all know that I am not a small dog person, so when he told me he had a small dog, I wasn't sure if we were going to last lol🤣🤣🤣 but I met her, and she is just the sweetest little thing going! We have not really had the opportunity to spend a good 10 days to two weeks, acclimating her to my pack, so she spends her time in Brooklyn, with half the week with her pet sitter and the other half with Jose! Last week he was at work and got a frantic phone call from the pet sitter that she was in bad shape… Fast-forward 12 hours later and she was on her deathbed… at only seven years old we couldn't figure out what was going on, but her organs were failing, and then the dreaded phone call came from the vet that she had pyometra!! anybody who knows pyo knows that you need to have immediate surgery or the outcome is death… She was in such grave condition , they had to wait till they had antibiotics on board and got her rehydrated and made her stable enough to go into surgery, that's how bad she was… Fast-forward 10 days, and $15,000 later, she is back to her normal little spunky self… Two things I want to address, I am not a proponent of Spaying or neutering dogs while they are still puppies are even young adults… Whenever anybody has asked me, my go to response is at least two years old for females and  2 1/2 years old for males, pushing it to three if possible… Quite frankly, it's nobody's business what you do with your dogs, so if you choose to keep your dogs, intact, that's your business, but please do not breed unless you are a breeder, or you know what you're doing, AND you have several homes already lined up for the litter of puppies you're about to have! And please research how deadly pyo is! The really upsetting thing now that she is OK, was the response from the vet staff… I couldn't get over how cold and nasty they were, when my partner is literally on the phone in tears, asking how much the bill was going to be, and getting a quote of $15,000 or "we could just euthanize her"!! I don't understand what is happening with veterinary medicine these days, as I understand hospitalization and surgery is expensive, but $15,000! I could see $5000, but $15,000!?? By the grace of God we have credit cards and had the money, but I honestly don't know one person who has $15,000 laying around, and knowing that their animal was going to be euthanized is absolutely heartbreaking… Something has to be done because leaving an owner facing either a $15,000 bill or euthanasia is just not acceptable! And I completely and totally understand and respect that those in veterinary medicine need to get paid, but charging somebody $15,000 is absolutely despicable!
I'm going to put this out there, and I would like everybody to know that this is an option! It is not mandatory, it is not even suggested, it's an option… I don't know how much of my own personal money that I have dumped into this organization but suffice to say it's in the thousands, probably tens of thousands of dollars over the last 12 years that we've existed.... unfortunately, any dogs that are in our care right now, or any dogs that are even being thought about coming into our organization, there is no extra money, meaning my personal money… Nine out of 10 times when we haven't had the money needed, I would always front the money, and most of the time not paying myself back because quite honestly this is something that I love. However, things are extremely tight right now, and I'm asking those of you who know me personally, know what I do personally for this organization, and know that I have put years and years of blood, sweat and tears, including financial assistance into this organization, if you would like to help with a donation to help pay off our $15,000 bill, for me, feel free to send a donation to my personal Venmo account, which is below… Please understand that this was a horrible decision that had to be made, however, our pack is our life, just like our kids, and there isn't anything that we wouldn't do for them!
Secondly, I am absolutely devastated to realize and recognize that my sweetheart of a boy, and my daughter's dog pride has pretty bad hip dysplasia… He's not even seven years old, and is having trouble walking, running, and using stairs… I would like to ask those of you who have dealt with dogs who have orthopedic issues, what supplements have you found that have been helpful, and what prescription medicines have you found that have alleviated some of the issues… Pride is from a very well known and respected breeder, and I know his parents, and they are in fantastic health… Sometimes things just happen… It's breaking my heart recognizing that he is in pain, and we're doing things right now before our vet appointment so that he has some relief, but I would like to hear from everybody your thoughts on supplements and prescription meds that have helped your dogs…
Lastly, things have been slow on the front, as I've been dealing with all of these issues, and unfortunately, AVALA's Foster cannot foster her in June, so we are desperately looking for another Foster for her, hoping we can get her up into the New England area… We do have a possibility of somebody in New Hampshire, so please keep your fingers crossed that we can get her a permanent home!
Oh, and one last thing, thank you for those of you who donated for her Transport cost, I do want to ask that we still have an outstanding bill for Diesel and his obedience training, only $100… I'm leaving up our platforms, so if you'd like to help, that would be extremely generous of you! Right now we don't really need monetary support other than for Diesel, and a little bit of money to get from New York to New Hampshire if that goes through… So if you'd like to help, please use our platforms below… And again, my own personal platform, can be used if you'd like to help with our ridiculous $15,000 bill… Please know that even if you choose to help me, that overall will be helping our organization as that will be able to give me some extra personal money to use, Should something come up...
Couple of pictures of Jose with Mia, and lastly, the picture of my daughter with one of our very first dogs we rescued Zoey! Man, she was a handful! A very dominant female, but one of the sweetest dogs that I've ever come through our doors!
That's it for now we'll be back with some pictures of AVALA as soon as I can get them uploaded!
Platforms for Stephanie's shepherds are:
Venmo is Stephanies_Shepherds
PayPal is fortheluvofGSDs
My personal Venmo is:
Stephanie-DeRose-Morano
