The first one shows her with her Christmas bone. I am unsure about the date, but it is most likely 1985. The other shows Neewa and Patrick docking our boat.
We got Neewa in a rather roundabout way. Carole's mother had recently lost her German Shepherd JoJo (I have a picture of JoJo which shows JoJo in the middle surrounded by Kim and Marshall).
So, Mrs. Elrod commissioned Carole to find a replacement German Shepherd puppy. Carole found a promising lead from an ad in the newspaper, so we went out to look. The backyard breeder lived on a tract of land out in the country - 5 or so acres. By the time that we arrived, there were only a couple of puppies left. Carole and Marshall selected one of them, and we went home. This episode took place on a Saturday. Carole called her mother, but Mrs. Elrod could not come right away. We were stuck with Neewa for a whole week, and Neewa stole her way into our house. So, we had to find her mother a replacement dog ASAP. We found one (from yet another backyard breeder), and everybody breathed a sigh of relief. And that is how we were introduced to German Shepherd puppies...
We were most surprised when she would not eat. Carole tried various ideas, but we finally decided to take her to a vet. It was hook worms. Once we got rid of those things, she began eating like the a respectable puppy should. By the way, hook worms can infect people as well.
Neewa loved everybody that she met before her second birthday. After that time, she was not so sure.
Carole tried to train Neewa for AKC obedience, but we flunked out. It was so very very hot that summer. Thus, Neewa never won anything.
We spent quite some time on Lake Cypress Springs. We used the family room as a staging area for the things that we would take in the boat. Neewa followed us around while we did this. However, when the dog food sack arrived in the pile of things to take, Neewa sat down and went to sleep.
The end for Neewa began when she was about 7 1/2 years old. We found a growth on her side, and tests showed that it was malignant. The real end was near when the vet aborted a tumor removal because the cancer had spread to her lung cavity. She died a couple of months later.