Submitted to the Animal Rescue Site by Suellen of Englewood, Ohio:

I found Joey’s picture online at an animal shelter site. I had just lost my dog Tanner Joe suddenly of uncertain circumstances and my heart was broken. Tanner found me when he was lost without a home and I took him in. He was only four when he died. Needing to mend my broken heart, we drove over an hour to the animal shelter where Joey was.

We took him into the “get acquainted room,” and he was full of energy and loved to give kisses. He was thought to be about six months old. I had to have him – he was [an] adorable, yellow Lab mix, [with] some shepherd in him because he had the fanned tail.

I have a chronic, sometimes debilitating illness, but even as a puppy Joey was content to snuggle next to me in bed and take care of me. He went through so many sad life events with me – divorce, losing my house, moving four times – but he was always there for me.

He loved his daddy, even after the divorce, and adored our daughter, and recently my granddaughter. We were all his. He loved to rub his forehead on us, as if to say “you are mine,” and when my daughter was young we started to show our affection to him the same way rubbing our face in his fur saying, “mine, mine, mine.” That usually made him playful, too.

He had awful allergies, and was taking five antihistamines and a steroid. The steroids made him gain weight, and as he grew older his hips grew weaker and eventually he was taking pain pills, as well. Even through this, he was always the caregiver. We loved and spoiled him every day.

I had to help him across the rainbow bridge this week, it was the hardest decision I have ever had to make. I could not let my baby boy suffer in pain though, because I know what that is like. We miss him so much – he was a gift from God and we will always love him, forever in our hearts.

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This is Greg’s story:

My wife and I owned two dogs that we had owned before we met and brought into the marriage. Her dog was a pit bull/Labrador cross named Zack, and he hated me. When our daughter was born, I said to the wife, ‘If he so much as nips at the baby, he’s gone.’

We brought our daughter home in a car seat, and both dogs sniffed and licked her, tails wagging. I had to pull Zack away from her because he wouldn’t stop licking her. Zack immediately became my daughter’s protector, and when she was lying on a blanket on the floor, he always had to have one foot on the blanket.

Zack loved my daughter immensely, and when she became a little older always walked her to bed, and then slept on the bed with her. He somehow knew whenever it was time to go upstairs, and he would wait at the foot of the stairs for her, and then follow her up to bed.

Zack was poisoned by some dirtbag neighbor kids, and we had one of the worst days of our lives. Watching my daughter say goodbye to him as he laid still on the kitchen floor, my wife and I were both sobbing.

At 8:00 that night, my daughter walked to the stairs to go to bed. At that moment, all three of us realized what was about to happen. After five years, she didn’t have Zack to accompany her upstairs. She looked at her mother and me with a look of horror and panic.

It was at that moment that my dog, who loved my daughter dearly, but was not in Zack’s league, stood up, walked over to her, and nudged her with his head. He put his foot on the stairs, and looked up at her. They walked up to bed, with my daughter holding tightly to his neck.

For the next six years, until he died, Sam waited for her by the stairs each night.

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This dog was heartlessly discarded by a breeder, and when he was found was emaciated and being eaten by mites.  But he was taken in by a family who treated him like a prince, and he recovered.

Because of his traumatic past, some might think he’d have had a hard time adjusting to an attention-hogging baby, but Daizu was like another parent to the boy – his first friend, really.

Even though the baby didn’t always understand what Daizu was doing, he never stopped trying to engage him in play.  As he got older, the boy would play tug-of-war with him, and Daizu was as gentle as ever.

Sadly, Daizu succumbed to a severe respiratory infection in October.  He was eight years old.  Because of the wonderful experiences Daizu had with this boy, it is likely that he will always love and be kind to animals.

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