Meet sweet Irene! This poor soul was rescued from a hoarding situation where she was forced to live in a little pen that was filled with dirt and feces. It was pretty much her entire world until about a week ago. Irene is a dear, sweet, very shy girl. She gets along great with all of the other dogs here and totally ignored a cat while we visited the vet's office. She rode very well in the care and I have yet to hear her make any sort of noise! She surprised me when she immediately figured out how to climb up and down the stairs. Irene is used to living inside a doghouse so it will take a bit of socializing for her to reach her potential. Right now she has been declared in good health with the exception of a horrible ear infection. She is good about letting you put the medicine in her ears. I even got a little kiss from her too! As I find out more about her, an update will be posted. Please check out our web site at www.shepherdrescue.org for more information about our dogs, our adoption process and to download an application. You must have a fully approved application on file prior to privately meeting our dogs. We do not have a facility, all our dogs are housed in private foster homes throughout MD/DC/VA areas. More information available on our web site, so please read through our web site before emailing questions, as it might save us both some time! VGSR can only adopt dogs out in the Virginia/Maryland/DC area, no exceptions. Although donations of all types are needed, our primary need is foster homes for our lovely dogs while they wait for their new family to find them. Fostering is an extremely rewarding experience. Vet care is paid for by our rescue, and we can even provide you with food. All YOU need to add is love and security. The adoption process starts with the applicant filling out the adoption application. This can happen at any time during the process, before or after having met a GSD that might be the ideal companion. (It's an advantage to have a pre-approved application on file with VGSR. It should be stressed here that being pre-approved does not mean that any potential adopter can select any available dog at will and take that dog home immediately. VGSR will exercise its best judgement as to which GSD will be the best match for that specific adopter based on a number of qualifying criteria. Many GSDs that come to us are matched up with their new people very quickly because their people have been pre-approved.) The applicant then submits the application form with a non-refundable $10.00 processing fee. VGSR reviews the application, then schedules an interview and home visit during which a number of questions are asked and the home is reviewed to be sure there is a contained/safe yard, and to meet the family involved. Once the application is approved, the applicant is asked to submit a $250.00 donation to VGSR, and the adoption is completed.