Rocky was a lost soul when I first saw him in the kennels. He was not the dog I had intended to see and I told the staff he was the wrong dog. I couldn't have been more wrong. Rocky was seven years old and his picture on the website made him look a bit heavy and tired. I offered to walk Rocky to give him some exercise while I looked at other dogs that I had chosen to see. After a short amount of time and several walks I could see his behaviour changing. I sat with him as he ate his meals after our walks and then he would put himself to bed. My daughter came to see him and we a nice walk in the woods nearby. We didn't like to think of him being alone in the kennels and decided that he was the dog we wanted to take home.

Rocky began to fit in very well at home and it was like having a big sleepy bear around the house. From not being interested in people and not enjoying being stroked he quickly started to appreciate his cuddles and loved having his ears rubbed. We would go for walks early in the morning and he looked so happy running off his lead on the beach. He was happy travelling in the car and came to work with me every day, content to sleep. Everyone who saw him was impressed at how laid back he was for such a large dog and surprisingly, from his original picture, how handsome he was.

Unfortunately no one knew Rocky was very ill. We had only had Rocky at home for two weeks when he started to show signs of distress on a Friday evening. He wouldn't have been able to have a comfortable night so we decided to take him to the emergency vet. The diagnosis was not good and it was decided with the advice of the vet and permission from GSRS that Rocky would only be suffering unnecessarily. We all miss him (including the staff at the kennels) and hope that his time with us showed that someone cared for him and he didn't die alone. Goodbye to our Big Bear.