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Ms. Drew
always in our hearts
July 19, 1999 - November 15, 2014
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WELCOME....to a website dedicated to the full life and cherished memory of a Long Haired German Shepherd Dog -- and introducing you to another one.Haven't heard of these dogs? You're in for a treat, as you visit here. The only problem is that you probably won't believe most of what we share with you about these dogs...and about our dogs in particular, Ms. Drew (named after Drew Barrymore we learned, when we got her at nine weeks), and now also Ms. Sable!
You won't believe it because it sounds like the sort of thing of canine fiction. The thing is, all of it IS true. And if you need corroboration, ask anyone who owns a LHGSD. These are the companions of your dreams. And they really do quickly learn to understand everything you say.....
The rest of this webpage is devoted to the highlights of Drew's life in Portland, Oregon -- particularly her well-attended birthday parties, of which the final one in July of 2014 was undoubtedly the best and her most favorite.
On the other pages of this website you will learn more about what these amazing dogs are like in our lives -- about what Drew found more fun than anything in the world (and other German Shepherds would probably agree) -- and about her wide ranging influence, as it turned out, through this website, which accompanied her throughout her life. She made friends around the world, and apparently even influenced Walt Disney animators trying to get the German Shepherd right.
Please enjoy your time on this website!
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THE "DREW'S FRIENDS" PAGE IS NOW ACCESSED BY CLICKING HERE!
MEANTIME, WE HAVE A NEW LONGHAIRED GERMAN SHEPHERD IN OUR FAMILY, AS OF APRIL 21, 2015! MEET SABLE HERE!
OR, CONTINUE SCROLLING DOWN TO READ ABOUT DREW'S LIFE...THE LONG AND NOTABLE LIFE OF AN EXTRAORDINARY LONG HAIRED GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG! SHE STILL HAS MUCH TO SHOW YOU ABOUT THESE AMAZING DOGS...AND PROBABLY ALSO ABOUT ANY DOG YOU MAY HAPPEN TO HAVE IN YOUR FAMILY. TO A GREATER OR LESSER EXTENT, EVERY DOG IS CAPABLE OF MORE THAN PEOPLE BELIEVE!
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Snow Opened 2004 in Portland!
The year 2004 began with an unforecast snow storm in Portland, Oregon... the most snow falling in the city in close to a decade. At age 4-1/2, Drew had not seen snow before, so she explored it carefully New Year's morning... and seemed to enjoy the experience. As a longhair, she certainly was dressed for it! Below are two more photos from her day in the snow.
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| Drew loves chasing after her doggie basketball in the back yard at any time of year, but she wants you to EARN it back...gotta tussle for it first, before you can throw it again! (The three photos of Drew at right are "thumbnails"--click on each one to enlarge the view. But what about that third one--Drew eating from a fork? Read more on page 3--"GSD Intellect".) |
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| Happy Fifth Birthday to Drew!
Ms. Drew turned five on Monday, July 19, 2004. The preceding weekend we celebrated the event by taking her out to dinner at the Berlin Inn in Portland. Here she was enjoying her New Yorkie Cheesecake dessert--from a fork, of course (see above and the "GSD Intellect" page about the fork). Click on the photo at left to enlarge!
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Happy sixth birthday to Drew!
Tuesday, July 19th, 2005, was her 6th...but we planned a family party for her at the Berlin Inn Saturday afternoon, July 16th. We avoided using the Berlin word in front of her, but she obviously picked up on what we planned and on the day itself was unusually bouncy and active, even whining eagerly from time to time. The hour came, we went to the inn, and with Jane and Eric hosting, and Eric's sister Karin and her husband Mark, Drew had her customary dinner at the table, from her fork. Also polished off her New Yorkie Cheesecake (an Inn dessert baked for dogs). Click on the photo to enlarge the view, as Ms. Drew eats turkey hotdogs with spaetzle noodles and mushroom gravy for her birthday! (She begins the meal with a nice gouda fondue, eaten from a fondue fork of course!)
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Happy 7th Birthday to Drew!
At Oaks Amusement Park, Portland, Oregon, July 19, 2006!
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| The climax of Drew's 7th birthday party at Oaks Amusement Park, on the Willamette River in Portland, was a ride with her family on the miniature train around the park! (She loved it.) |
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| Drew had a 7th birthday cake to share with the others who came to her party at the Portland amusement park. |
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Happy 8th birthday to Drew!
July 19, 2007, marked Drew's eighth birthday. She had two celebrations this year -- the first, at Oaks Amusement Park, where she celebrated the previous year with a train ride, occurred again with a picnic at the side of the Willamette River in Portland, only about two miles from the Norberg home. There, on June 18th she got her first cake (shown below), most of which she shared with the humans of the former Portland Willamette Rotary Club whose tenth reunion summer picnic it was.
Then, on Tuesday evening, July 24th, twelve more humans (including Eric and Jane of course) were present at her favorite restaurant with her -- the Berlin Inn, less than two miles north of the Norberg home, and she was surprised by several presents (including the cookies shown, and some stuffed toys, and a Nylabone). She contemplated with anticipation, and then consumed, her own meal (by fork of course) of wieners and spaetzle with onion and mushroom gravy...and concluded with another birthday cake! This one, provided by the restaurant for celebrating dogs, was a small heart-shaped spongecake topped with peanut butter frosting. Drew contemplated it, and then ate all of it with enthusiasm (by fork of course). When asked to blow out the candle, she didn't even inhale...one of the guests blew it out for her! The photos below, from that party, are all "thumbnails" -- click on them, then give them time to load, for a large and detailed look at each one!
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Drew's 9th Birthday!
Ms. Drew celebrated her last single-digit birthday first with a riverside picnic, and then with a special dinner at her favorite restaurant, in mid-July of 2008!
As you see, she (very briefly) consented to wearing a party hat, if it seemed necessary to enjoy her spaetzle-and-wieners German dinner at the Berlin Inn...
For nine more photos from Drew's ninth birthday celebration, click on the photo at right to be transported to her Ninth Birthday page!
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| Drew was again allowed by Oaks Amusement Park to ride their little train (whether or not she can seems to depend on whichever operator is driving the train), and here she looks out across the Willamette River, which bisects Portland, Oregon. See a slide show of this and 19 other photos from Drew's 10th birthday week by clicking on the photo above! |
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HAPPY 10th TO DREW!
Ms. Drew had an event-filled birthday week... Starting with the annual Rotary picnic at Oaks Amusement Park, by the shore of the Willamette River which runs north through Portland, on the evening of July 15th, 2009 (and she got to ride their little train again, as you see at left); on Saturday, July 18th, she marched with Eric in the Woodstock Neighborhood parade not far from our house. Next came a special 10-guest birthday dinner on the porch of her favorite restaurant, the Berlin Inn, on her actual birthday, Sunday, July 19th. She finished her special week with another dinner out -- at a premier restaurant in our neighborhood which built a secluded patio for dining, and now welcomes dogs there. Papa Haydn hadn't figured out that they need a dog menu yet, so we ordered buttered fettucine with parmesan cheese from the child's menu, and she loved it; the last photo was taken under the table there. See a 20-photo slide show of each of these adventures by clicking on the photo at left!!
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Drew's 11!
Drew's 11th birthday stretched over a week in mid-July 2010 -- beginning with a picnic at historic Oaks Amusement Park beside the Willamette River in Portland, continuing with a lawn picnic at our home in Southeast Portland on her actual birthday, July 19, and concluding with a 17-person porch party at her favorite restaurant -- Portland's Berlin Inn!
Click on the photo at right for more pictures from Drew's 11th birthday week!
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| Georgia Peterson took this striking portrait of Drew at her 11th birthday party at the Berlin Inn. FOR MORE PHOTOS, CLICK ON THIS PHOTO! |
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| Daddy and Drew say "cheese" at the start of another patio birthday party at Portland, Oregon's "Berlin Inn"! |
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| HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY TO DREW!
Her actual birthday was July 19th, but we assembled a crowd of 13 humans and 3 dogs on the patio of the Berlin Inn to celebrate Drew's 12th birthday in the early evening of Sunday, July 24, 2011. We have 15 photos from that fun evening, as Drew belied her years and energetically greeted everyone -- and enjoyed herself till the sun was down and her peanut butter birthday cake, fed to her by Eric, had been finished.
Click on the photo at left to see all 15 photos from the party!
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| HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY TO DREW!
Click on the cake below, to read about her two parties -- and to see her slide show!
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| Click on the cake to watch Drew's 13th-birthday slide show! |
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Drew's 14th Birthday Party!
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Drew enjoyed her biggest party ever -- with 28 people and 6 dogs -- on her 14th Birthday, Friday, July 19, 2013. For more details, a picture of the venue -- formerly called the Berlin Inn, and now known as the Brooklyn House -- and a slide show of the party itself, please click on the photo at right, and we'll take you there!
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Shortly after her 14th birthday party, Drew entered a period of her life with some serious and ongoing physical challenges. For details, please CLICK HERE.
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Drew celebrated her 15th Birthday in July of 2014!
CLICK HERE to go to the party!
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Drew lived to be fifteen years and just short of four months old. It was a longer than average life for a German Shepherd, especially one with the disabilities she had during her last year.
If you would like to learn about her peaceful end, and see the memorial ad we placed in THE BEE newspaper in Southeast Portland, click on her photo at left -- it's a photo taken earlier in 2014, in her bed in our living room, where she received constant care and companionship in her last year.
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IF, BY ANY CHANCE, YOU HAVE AN ELDERLY DOG AND ARE TRYING TO DEAL WITH ISSUES RELATED TO THAT, AND HAVE FOUND VETERINARIANS RATHER GLOOMY AND INCLINED TO SUGGEST AN EASY END TO THEIR LIFE, INSTEAD OF GIVING YOU PRACTICAL PROCEDURES TO HELP THEM LIVE THEIR LIFE FULLY -- WE HAVE SET UP A WEBPAGE TO SHARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE LEARNED WHILE HELPING DREW IN HER LAST YEAR. CLICK HERE TO VISIT IT.
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WHO ARE WE...?
We are Jane Kenney-Norberg and Eric Norberg, residents of Portland, Oregon, since 1975. Our family includes a plethora of garden snails (in aquariums) with no names, AND the centerpiece of this website, until her death of natural causes on November 15, 2014, the centerpiece of our family as well...Drew, our beautiful Long Haired German Shepherd Dog, born July 19, 1999. She lives on in our memories, our hearts, and in this online record of her life... Now we share our home with Sable.
Drew's Tail...or rather, Tale
Questions began when her very long, slender tail began to get quite bushy. We were puzzled by all that hair, especially since she was a purebred GSD. We began to investigate, and discovered that there are several varieties of colors in GSDs (black & tan, sable, all black, and all white, just to note a few), as well as varieties of hair texture and length. Drew was a very soft, quite plush, long haired GSD. She had distinctive hair tufts on the back of her ears, feathers on all four legs, pantaloons in the rear, and that wonderful 8 inch wide plume of a tail! People mistook her for a Belgian Shepherd, or a GSD/Collie mix, but she was not!!!
Want to see more pictures of Drew? Click here!
Want to find out just how SMART German Shepherds really are? Click here!
Other Norberg Family Enterprises:
Now retired from her science teaching at O.E.S., Jane is still busy there -- with her renowned after-school LEGO PHYSICS program!
Eric's "Adult Contemporary Music Research Letter"
Click here to go to Eric's book about programming radio stations, on Amazon.com!
The Bee newspaper
PEOPLE ASK HOW DREW LIVED TO BE 15
People have asked us how Drew stayed so vital and lively at what was, for a German Shepherd, a really advanced age. We give Drew 500 mg of Vitamin C and 800 iu of Vitamin E per day, and a joint support formula, but the supplementation that made absolutely the greatest difference is the combination of Acetyl L-Carnitine and Alpha Lipoic Acid. Eric tried this anti-aging combination developed by Dr. Bruce Ames at UC Berkeley when it was first reported in Discover magazine -- click here to download a 3.5 MB PDF of the original 2002 article -- and, taking a 500 mg capsule of Acetyl L-Carnitine morning and night and 600 mg of Alpha Lipoic Acid morning and night, his aging muscular condition greatly improved. As a result we started Drew in 2007 on 1/4 to 1/2 capsule of each once a day in her food, and her growing difficulty climbing stairs and jumping into cars completely reversed, and until late 2012 she was back to the way she was three or four years before 2006. [Note that we find an amount of Alpha Lipoic Acid at least equal to the amount of Acetyl L-Carnitine is essential for best results, which is a different proportion than specified in that article. We are informed that although this combo works fine for people and dogs and many other mammals, Alpha Lipoic Acid is toxic to cats, and should not be given to cats.]
You can get these supplements at most health food stores, or by mail from www.swansonvitamins.com, which is the most economical source for them that we have found. Based on our experience, we recommend this combination not only for aging people but for aging dogs as well.
We should also mention that Drew also had a lifelong problem with fungal ear infections -- we finally permanently solved the irritation and discomfort by giving her a tablet a day of "NutriFeron", a product which we actually have been selling -- a rather remarkable immune booster we ourselves have been using to mitigate colds and flu. Learn more here! We tried Drew on NutriFeron in place of an immunity booster recommended by a vet which did not seem to work, and suddenly -- within a month -- that chronic fungal infection problem in her ears she had had since she was a puppy cleared up completely, and never did come back. These days we give it to Sable. If your dog has a similar problem, try one tablet of NutriFeron a day, and see if it helps!
NOTE: This site is regularly updated! Last updated on October 12, 2024, as we continued Sable's story with sobering news we just received, on this page. (We also recently added a YouTube video and commentary in second position down from the top on this page. And, we've added a belated final tribute to unforgettable Ms. Drew on the lower portion of this page.) Please visit us periodically for more pictures, new friends -- and additional new stories and new photos of Sable.
© 2002-2024 The Norberg Family, Portland, Oregon, USA
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