How It All Started

This journey doesn't begin with Izzy. It begins with Emmi. We found Emmi in a Craigslist ad (I’m sure our previous golden had something to do with it). She was meant to be a service dog for the owner’s son but she did not have the resources for training. The red flag should have been when she said “I’m afraid she will hurt him”. We got a 10-month-old golden who had spent much of her life in a crate with no training. She had no clue how to calm, she was reactive to other dogs and got over-stimulated and would bite the leash and lunge and mouth us. The cats were terrified of her. I made a deal with her, don’t hurt the cats and we will work this out. So, the journey began. Lots and lots of training. We worked with several amazing trainers, took every course we could, tried agility (too exciting for her), practiced relaxation protocols at home, did puzzles and other activities to tire her mind, brought her to work with us, took a weekly pack walk to help with her dog reactivity, sent her to daycare (she got kicked out) and slowly we made progress. She was incredibly smart and sweet (“a diamond in the rough” as one trainer said), she just hadn’t learned how to calm. Then one day I was finally able to play my song for her, Brown-eyed Girl, and dance with her and she didn’t start lunging and mouthing me, we were able to get by most dogs without her reacting, she earned her Canine Good Citizen Certification. All of our work had forged an incredible bond between the two of us. We knew what the other was thinking. I had never had quite that relationship with a dog and it was incredible. I realized I might finally have the Therapy Dog I had been looking for (I did a thesis on the “Use of Pets as an Occupational Therapy Modality” in college and had wanted to pursue working with a therapy dog but life happened). She passed her certification exam and her observed visits! It was her calling. She was amazing at her work. She knew who needed her and she knew what they needed be it for her to sit by them, or put her head in their lap, or give them a hug or to let them hug her. She intuitively would make eye contact or go to those she knew needed some therapy. She was so insightful. I loved watching her work her magic with people and was so proud of her. We started a program at one of our local hospitals. She got to do one visit there and was amazing. On a weekend at the coast, we noticed Emmi didn’t want to fetch at the beach like she normally did and when she was not enthusiastic about her food, we cut our trip short. X-rays revealed nodules on her lungs, a trip to OSU further showed she had a hemangiosarcoma tumor in her heart. There was nothing to do but to take her home and spoil her for what might be a few days or a week. Our vet did everything he could to support her and give us more time. We got 6 wonderful weeks with our girl. We stopped everything and focused on her. Beach trips, her first camping trip, wading in the river, sniff walks, picnics, lots and lots of yummy food, lots of visits from all of her friends and even 2 more trips to the airport. Her heart started bleeding on the way to her weekly vet appointment and she collapsed. She had waded in the river that morning, taken a walk and sat with us on a bench and watched the world go by. She even got to interact with a young girl who yelled “Can I pet your dog? Mom, that’s the kind of dog I want”. We decided it was time to free her from her body. We miss her so much. The day we found out she had lung nodules, I heard Kacey Musgraves’ version of Three Little Birds for the first time. I then heard it going to OSU and then coming back home from OSU. I heard it almost every time I went anywhere in the car. I listened carefully to it and knew it was a sign. Initially I thought it was a message for me to give to Emmi but then I realized, it was Emmi’s message to me. As soon as I came to that realization, I quit hearing it. My husband had not heard it but then on his way to the vet clinic after Emmi collapsed, he heard it on a station that he’d never heard play it. It was just like her to worry about us. We miss her so much but we are ready for our next dog and I know Emmi has been guiding us to Izzy.