"Thanks to your donors, our family is still together. I was absolutely devastated when Scout was given her diagnosis. I felt like an irresponsible pet owner and bad mother. I knew how much Scout meant to not only my life, but my children's lives."
Scout's Family
Have you ever gone through something in your life that is so difficult you’re not sure how you’ll make it?
That’s what it was like for me and my kids when I was going through the divorce. I was probably crazy to take on a puppy but I knew it would make the kids happy. So…Scout became a member of our family! They chose her for her “funny” tail. She was the runt of the litter but they loved how her tail was moving constantly. Her tail wagged her whole body!
She was ornery and energetic and playful and cuddly and loyal and attentive—to ALL of us! Just like the “Scout” character in To Kill a Mockingbird, for whom she was named. And JUST what we needed.
When my partner joined our brood, she was immediately there for him too. He struggles with PTSD from his time in the military and Scout is amazing with him. In fact, she’s so important at keeping him grounded that we plan to look into training him as a full-fledged service dog.
In about 2 weeks, she will have a new family member to watch over and love. If our prep time getting the baby’s room ready is any indication, she is definitely up for the task! She is very curious about all the baby gear and has supervised the preparation every step of the way.
So what interrupted our familial bliss? Scout STOPPED being playful and cuddly and all those wonderful things. She stopped eating and started throwing up. She got to where she couldn’t even stand up.
We couldn’t even afford the diagnostics to confirm that she had a blockage in her gut. Were we going to have to put this 1 year old puppy down? Or give her to a rescue so she could be saved?
Thanks to your donors, our family is still together. I was absolutely devastated when Scout was given her diagnosis. I felt like an irresponsible pet owner and bad mother. I knew how much Scout meant to not only my life, but my children's lives. But I also knew there was no way I could afford her treatment and was out of options. I was willing to relinquish her to a rescue in order to save her life, because she didn't deserve to be put down. You kind people from Ellie's Rainy Day Fund have kept my children from going through another heartbreak. You’ve kept my partner from losing an important source of calming. You’ve kept me from missing out on the joy of soon introducing her to the new member of her pack.
