I wanted to share a story based off my family's personal experience with our dog. In order to convey a more meaningful connection between my wife's intimate connection to our dog, I decided to tell this story from her perspective. Here's how the story goes:
"I've always been a dog lover, so I decided to start dog sitting for people. I grew up with dogs. I had 2 dobermans(who were siblings) when I was a little. I remember one day my dad brought 2 small doberman puppies and my job was to feed them with little milk bottles:) But, the saddest moment I remember was when my dad gave them away to his friends' family when we moved to another states:(
I've always wanted to have my own dog and finally after many years I have my own family. My 3rd child, Ruth, is also a dog lover, like me. She would always beg me to get her a dog. So, one day, on her birthday, my wife and I finally decided to get a puppy. We looked at eBay and saw this cute golden retriever puppy so we thought it would be the perfect puppy for my daughter.
When we met the guy to pick up the puppy, the puppy looked different from the ad. We wanted a golden retriever puppy but he looked like a mixed lab. We took him anyway because he was just too cute to turn away. When we took him in our car, my husband started to notice something ticking, like a bug, on the puppy's body. At that moment, I knew something was wrong but we didn’t bring the dog back. Instead, we knew this was our fate and we couldn't turn around. We went straight to our neighbors vet, Tree House Clinic to get the puppy checked out instead of going straight home knowing Ruth was dying to see this puppy. We didn’t know what to name him until the front desk lady asked us to fill out the forms for the puppy when we arrived at the Clinic. We named him Max short for Maxi Kim. The doctor examined Max and told us that he was a Golden retriever lab mix and that he was about 3 months old. It was amazing how she looked at his teeth and told us approximately his age. She also told us he needed some vaccination and dewormer. She even gave me a whole lecture about how to take care of Max. We went straight to Petsmart to get his crate, food, bowls, leash, toys, and etc. We couldn’t believe how expensive and time consuming it was to raise a dog just like a child. We even hired a puppy trainer to come to our house to train Max because I was a busy mom and I thought it would be nice if he was trained from an expert. Days went by and I noticed Max wasn’t eating as well as normally did and he was throwing up everything he ate and he had loose stools. I took him to the vet again and that's when the nightmare started. The doctor told me Max has Parvo symptoms and then later she diagnosed Max with Parvovirus, which is a deadly virus that could potentially kill him. I remember tears rolling down my cheeks when the doctor told me the news. I asked the doctor what we could do to cure this disease. She told me that Max had to be admitted to the clinic for a couple of weeks and to take antibiotics. But, she couldn't guarantee that this would cure him. The worst part of this was that this would cost thousands of dollars which I couldn’t afford. But, I couldn’t give up on him now so I asked for the payment plan for the treatment and gave them permission to treat Max.
Every morning, I visited Max in the clinic to check on him and would leave with tears in my eyes because Max would look at me and whine as I left the clinic. After a few days of treatment, I received a call from the vet with bad news. She told me that Max wasn't eating or drinking and she thought that it was best to just euthanize Max because the treatment wasn't working. At that moment, my heart sunk. I remember kneeling down on my knees in my small closet crying out to the Lord. A few mins past, I received a call from the vet. She told me that Max started to bark and was finally now eating and drinking. This is my testimony about how God works if we believe in him and how my prayer was answered. The vet told me it was a miracle Max survived from this deadly disease. The doctor gave him lots of discharge instructions. She told me we had to bleach and clean the whole house because the parvovirus is contagious and she didn't want him to get it again when he went back home. Max had to stay in an isolated room while he is taking the medicine and during his recovery time.
Max in the family van
I spoiled him a lot after he came back from the clinic. I would boil chicken breast meat and mix it with his dry food each time. He wouldn’t eat without chicken since then. Max had gained a lot of his energy back and became stronger and stronger every day. He has never been sick since he had the parvovirus. Max is a Parvovirus dog survivor!
My neighbor always joked that it looked like Max was walking me because he would pull me as he ran forward.
Max had a bad experience at the vet clinic because every time I would take him to the clinic for a follow up check up, he would go wild. Also, I have another terrible memory of boarding Max. I was in Las Vegas with my family and on our last day I received a call from the vet saying that Max hurt his paws while he was in his kennel. The doctor also told me that Max wasn't eating or drinking. The clinic apologized and offered to treat Max for his injury. I noticed every time Max came home from boarding, he would act differently towards me. For example, he wouldn’t make eye contact with me or eat his food even when I gave him his favorite chicken meat. But then one year, Dogvacay came out and we were so happy, even Max. DogVacay is a service where a dog is boarding at a local pet sitter's house. I used it once and Max loved it. He came home very happy!
We ended up moving to another rental house after our lease ended and another adventure started. My youngest son, Samuel developed a rash from time to time and I would give him Benadryl and it would go away for a few days. But, this one time he started to cough and have asthma symptoms so I took him to the doctors. The doctor referred us to see an allergist. It was shocking news for us because we found out Samuel was allergic to both dogs and cats after a skin test. Our family had to make a hard decision. We decided to put Max up for adoption, which made Ruth very sad. I remember I cried so much on the way to the Humane Society. It was definitely one of the saddest moments of my life because I felt like I was giving up my own child. I was told that Max was adopted by another family the minute Humane Society put him on the internet because he was a very good family dog. He was handsome, well taken care, fully trained, and fully vaccinated.
Years have passed, we moved to new house. My daughter has been begging for another puppy.
From time to time, we would always think of Max because we miss him so much. I want a dog too but it’s a big commitment and I don’t know whether Samuel would be ok with dogs. My neighbor has a cute dog and my son touches him and he is ok so I thought maybe he outgrew the allergy. One day, I thought of a dog sitting for a different dog. I also thought about how Max hated being boarded to a facility. So, I thought about the idea of offering to dog sit for a family, who needed someone to care for their furry ones in a comfortable home while they were away. I know how important and stressful it was for a family when it came to boarding their dogs. I finally convinced Ruth and I started dog sitting in 2015. Ruth is helpful; she takes the dog outside sometimes, plays with them, and feeds them. I enjoy and look forward to seeing different dogs. I am happy when my furry friends are happy." -Michelle Kim