Dogs Leave Paw-Prints on our Hearts

9 years ago, we were new to our League City home and new to Texas in general.

We brought our little golden Yorkie poodle with us, but the house felt a little “pet empty.”

That is until dinner with new friends led us to a beautiful, brindle colored, hip-hugging Boxer girl named Paige.

We knew right away that we wanted to bring her home with us and see if she would be a good fit. Little did we know she would become as important to our family as our own kids.

Paige took to my husband right away. They became almost inseparable, and wherever Donny was, that’s usually right where Paige was too. She fulfilled the commitment and job of Service Dog for Donny even though she never earned the official vest. She was his companion animal and besides me, his best friend. She even got depressed when Donny traveled, which he frequently does!
Paige meant a lot to each of our kids too. Gabby and Kollin would occasionally ask to take Paige for a walk around the lake near our home. Paige never met a dog or a person she didn’t like. If you had a long silver string of slobber on you, that meant she liked you (and then you didn’t wipe it off before it dried!)

Regardless of where Paige was in our house, she was likely being loved on by one of us. She would give us extra love if we were sick or sad. She would play with our baby daughter Everleigh as a horseback ride or just a little roughhousing. She really was a special part of our family.

Over the years our family dealt with a lot of illness, injuries, and even cancer with our sweet pup. She’s had (2) ACL surgeries. She’s been bitten by another dog and even fed the wrong food (steak is a huge no no). Worst of all she was diagnosed with the ‘C’ word that nobody wants to hear. Paige had Thyroid Cancer, and we acted quickly to have the affected part of her thyroid removed. She recovered really well and life got back to normal for us. Then, during a routine check-up they found a large bump on her other side. The cancer had hit the other side and appeared aggressive.

We were heartbroken but, against our best judgement, had that side removed as well. That surgery changed everything. Paige had to be on a handful of medications that were painful to get the dosage and timing right. She got a little better and we celebrated that she gained a few pounds. Then the reality of her suffering hit us like a ton of bricks. Paige started to have small seizures, lose control of her bathroom control and began to struggle to walk straight. We again took her to the vet and there Donny got the news that made him completely break down. I rarely see or hear my husband cry, but he didn't try to hide it from me when explaining the visit to me.

“Even if you had  a million dollars, you could diagnose her problem, but you couldn’t fix it.” The vet office offered a $3,000 diagnosis and evaluation, but we were still reeling from the $4,000 surgery she had just 2 weeks before. Paige’s surgeries over the years had cost + $20,000, and although we’d pay for more time with her, we couldn’t afford to prolong what we knew was inevitable.

Close family and those that loved our sweet Paige came to visit her and say their goodbyes over the weekend of the Superbowl. We showered her with love, attention and our grief began even before she left us. We watched her rapid decline and knew that an appointment with Lap of Love in home euthanization was imminent. It broke Donny’s heart to schedule that appointment; the air in our house was heavy with grief, and the sea of tears flooded our home.

We sent our sweet girl to our side of heaven that day, Feb 4th. We know she’s waiting for us to get there to walk her across the rainbow bridge and be together forever. She’s playing with other dogs and enjoying the company of angel children. There are treats shaped like cats, ice cream cones and ham sandwiches for her. She’s chasing ducks (a favorite for her), and she’s young and healthy. Most important of all, she's not in pain. 

It’s been over a month, but the tears are streaming down my face as I write this. Paige left a huge hole in the heart of our family, but we’re getting better. Few understand the significance of losing a 4-legged member of the family, but if you have, you know that you lost unconditional, unwavering love and companionship. For a while that is,     
Until we see you again sweet Paige.

Written by: Sarah Daughenbaugh, HTH Program Director

And from the ashes he Rose.

Throughout history we can see a pattern of men returning from war and taking up the time-honored tradition of Farming. There is something about nurturing life that works to heal them, and in our personal experience I have seen the same thing.

My husband came home from war a broken man. He was severely injured, he faced a future with a traumatic brain injury and PTSD as well as the knowledge that he had lost friends in a fire fight that he survived. He had been forced in defense of his own life and the lives of those around him to take lives, something that stays with him to this day. For a long time, he did not think himself deserving of the second chance he had been given.

In the end what stopped him from making a decision he couldn’t undo was having a life rely on him.  That life came in the form of a fat, old well before his time, angry, and stubborn cocker spaniel mix puppy by the name of Dante. If something happened to my husband what would happen to this little dog who chased post men and armadillos?  Before we were ever married, before we had children, before he knew he could still give to the world, that little black dog saved his life.

Dante has been gone over a year and a half now - When Dante reached the ripe old age of 14 my husband made the heart wrenching decision for him that it was indeed time for this little savior to cross the rainbow bridge. His heart was failing. His kidneys were giving out. He was mostly blind and deaf, his hips hurt, he growled in fear at nonexistence threats, but still he held out long after any dog would have been expected to because I like to think he couldn’t stand to leave my husband. He was loved to the very end and beyond. His job done and his watch was over.

Over the years that passed between his return from war and now, my husband found other ways to nurture and honor life. I have seen him despite being incredibly allergic foster an abandoned kitten until he could find it a home, I have seen him spending an hour in the pasture of our old property looking for another cat he saw by the side of the road, I have seen him take in a dog and her 10 puppies despite informing me he wanted nothing to do with them and then ensuring they all went to good homes,  I have seen him after the loss of his constant companion Dante find it in his heart to bring two more dogs home to love. Because what is a home without muddy paw prints and dog fur everywhere? The two standouts are of course our two beautiful children who he loves and protects fiercely but Children and animals, they’re easy to love. I think the very simplest of all, the most surprising in the end, is the pride I saw on his face, every year, without fail when he would return proudly from the garden of our old home to present me with the first bloom of the rose bushes he has been raising for a decade.  I think he marvels at the fact that he is capable of growing something so beautiful, and fragile, and sweet and I fall in love with him all over again every year.

This year, we are in a new home, it didn’t come with rose bushes. But it has them now. They are still just twigs in the ground at the moment, adorning the front of our house as a promise of the things we are going to grow here. Of the beautiful, sweet things that will bloom in this house because he is here to guide and nurture them.

Because in the end, he Rose.