Most of my posts have centred around disability, mental health, and parenthood—topics that are very important to me. But today, let’s switch gears and talk about dogs!

I’ve always been a dog person. Dogs are just so happy to see you all day long. Cats? Well…

Not that they aren’t great too!

Our Boy

The start of 2019 brought heartache when we lost our boy Reno at the end of January. Reno was a rescue dog who came into our lives when we bought our first home.

Reno was a Jack Russell/Beagle cross (a Jackabee, apparently), who was found wandering in a rough part of Glasgow. His tail looked like it had been docked in a hurry, a little stump with a tuft of hair at the end, and he had clearly been mistreated.

He had a traumatic start, which I believe led to some cognitive issues. He was half-wild, wired with small dog syndrome, but he was family.He had a traumatic start, which I believe led to some cognitive issues.He was half-wild, wired with small dog syndrome but he was family.

After a brief illness in mid-January, we rushed him to the vet and were sent home with heart medication. The vet warned that the medication might make him prone to wetting himself and that he’d need extra care, but we were more than happy to provide it.

Sadly, he didn’t improve, and he was admitted for an X-ray. On the car ride to the vet, I had a sinking feeling that it might be our last day together. I held his paw with my free hand as I drove.

I said goodbye and left him at the vet to be sedated. A few hours later, the vet called to tell me that his lungs were riddled with tumors. We had no idea he was that sick; he had hidden it so well.

They suggested that letting him go to sleep was the kindest option. My wife had started a new job, so I arranged for my mother-in-law to pick up our daughter, deciding it was better to collect her from work than to break the news over the phone. But I broke down and told her anyway. She knew.

Her boss let her leave work early, and we cried the entire way to the vet. We arrived and tried to compose ourselves, but some emotions are just too strong.

We were asked again if we’d made a decision. We agreed that letting him go to sleep was best. He was struggling to breathe, barely able to walk, and keeping him in that state for a few more days would have been selfish. He was tired, in pain, and needed to rest.

We were asked if we wanted to wait outside, but we couldn’t do that to him. He was family, and we wanted to be there in his final moments.

I petted my boy, telling him he was a good boy while my wife sobbed and spoke softly to him, telling him it was okay to go to sleep. His tail wagged as we spoke. He was comforted by our presence.

As the vet administered the injection, I saw him look up at us as his little body began to shut down. Unlike in the movies, his eyes didn’t close.

We watched as the light left him and said our final goodbyes. Our hearts were broken.

The hardest part was telling our daughter. The loving soul that she is, she made him a get-well card that he never got to see.

We decided we would cremate our boy, so we could bring him home once more. Our souls were shattered and we made a promise we’d never have another dog. There was no way we could go through that pain again.

Later in the year, we saw a post on the Facebook page for All Dog Rescue Scotland, a charity run by a workmate of my wife. There was a small dog of unknown breed with only three legs, looking for a home. This video was the first we saw of her:

The charity rescues dogs from kill shelters in Romania—horrific places where dogs are unloved, separated by gender, caged in large numbers, and held until being euthanized. The conditions are heart-wrenching, with dogs being thrown over the wall like discarded garbage when the shelter closes. It’s heartbreaking.

This was our girl in her former life.

Fortunately, a very kind lady named Monica is a volunteer at the shelter and does her best to rescue as many of these poor dogs as possible. Monica takes these wonderful creatures to a local lady who offers her yard as a place to keep the dogs before adoption. This saves them from being euthanized and gives them a fighting chance at finding a loving home.

As you can see in the video, our girl had a serious deformity in her front left leg. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be saved and was amputated before her journey to the UK.

When I saw her for the first time, I loved her, but I was adamant that we weren’t getting another dog. The heartache was too much to endure.

One day, in a fit of madness after a few back-and-forth discussions with my wife, I told her to message them to find out more. My wife drafted a message, which sat on her phone for some time. While waiting for my daughter to leave drama class one day, she showed me the message, and I hit send without a pause. Mim was already on her way to the UK.

The dogs are brought into the country vaccinated, with complete medical histories and pet passports. The van is custom-fitted to ensure their journey is safe and comfortable, taking 3 to 4 days.

I said we’d go to see her, nothing more, but who was I kidding? We were taking her home. My daughter instantly fell for her. Seeing them together and knowing that our three-legged girl had a lesser chance of adoption, we had to.

I tried to keep my composure on the car ride home but desperately wanted her to join our family. I felt guilty, like I was betraying Reno, but I knew he’d want us to give a loving home to another poor dog. So we did.

In July of 2019, we adopted her, but her name had to change. When I hear the name Mim, I imagine it being called by an old English lady struggling with a yappy little dog in the park. She had a new life, so she needed a new name.

That name was Luna.

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If you’d like to give a dog with a rough start a loving home or find out how to donate, please get on Facebook and check out All Dog Rescue Scotland. If you live in England, check out All Dog Rescue Sussex.

If you live outside the UK, there are many organizations out there doing similar work. As the saying goes, adopt, don’t shop!

Until next time!