A weekend that is typically one of the biggest of the summer, this year was cold. Cold, yet fresh, vibrant and colourful. Beach beauty in many forms!

Thinking of a vacation… ensure while you are planning that you are taking into consideration what you will do with your loved ones… your fur babies.

Ive had quite a few people contacting me not only to find out what on earth happened but also to offer their condolences for the loss of my parents dog. Everyone is in shock and disbelief that something like this could happen.

So what did happen?

Well, my mom was simply told by the kennel owners in a very emotionless, blank statement… “another bigger dog t-boned her”.

Their dog Hazel, a pure chocolate lab, was a big dog, she was very tall and extremely fit.  She was in great health and regularly played, no rough housed with her best bud Becker. If anyone saw the dogs play, they could understand why this statement we were told by the Kennel isn’t sitting well with us… (yes us, my parents, my sis and us – we were all close with miss Haz and are all broken hearted).

What does a “big” dog mean? I could careless whose dog it was or the dogs name, IF thats what really happened.

Being only told that very simple, emotionless statement, does leave one’s mind to wander.

Its quite simple, dogs are like children, with fur. Even for someone who has children, my pets have always been like my babies. For people running a kennel, I would think they would be doing it not as a way to just be home and get paid money, but because they are also dog lovers and do it because they have a passion for it – which also means following rules… just like a daycare has to with children.

The vet diagnosis is that she had a “spinal stroke” , which is caused from trauma or injury. This was severe enough that she was paralyzed her from her middle down. Paralyzed. How does another dog, running around playing do this? See why we are having a very hard time with this? IF she was hit that hard by another dog that she was left paralyzed, would the other dog not be hurt in some form? You’d think so…

Hazel was paralyzed. Paralyzed from her middle down. Which meant that she had NO control of her bladder, bowels and NO movement either. When she was sitting she could not even lean her head down to drink water, the paralysis was that bad.

A dog who was so vibrant, full of life and so much love… She was left with no future, my parents left with a horrible heart wrenching decision and on our boy Beck’s 2nd birthday she went to Heaven and is free from pain.  I agree with their decision, as much as we all miss her, the poor girl who was once SO full of life, so smart, at 2.5 her life was tragically cut short – and why?

Obviously freak accidents happen, unfortunately our family knows too closely about how that can happen. What is very upsetting and is not sitting right with me is how.

How is it safe to have 8 dogs, 5 of which do not know each other and were all bigger like our dogs, out together in the yard at the same time with 1 person?

How could a dog running around paralyze another dog by running into her?

How many dogs can a kennel legally have on their premises to be able to guarantee maximum safety for ALL dogs?

Upon investigation into the dog by-laws which include kennel requirements, where this kennel is located, is as follows:

“Boarding Kennel” means a kennel where more than two (2) and twenty-five (25)
or less dogs are groomed or housed and which is licensed by….

Further down within the bylaw,

3. Every person who owns or operates a kennel shall provide the animals
under care, or cause them to be provided with:

c) The opportunity for periodic exercise sufficient to maintain good
health including the opportunity to be unfettered from a fixed area
and exercised regularly under appropriate control; and

What is deemed appropriate control?  To any dog owner, you would think that would be ensuring their safety while around other dogs, having 8 big dogs out together in a yard is NOT appropriate control.

There is nothing that will bring her back, however I do believe that people should be knowledgeable in what is deemed to be appropriate at a kennel and what is required by law. What if there has been other instances at this kennel or other kennels in the area and people have just assumed that “there’s no point” in doing something.

Infact, after this instance we were reminded that when my grandma’s small dog had been there she came home looking as if she had been attacked, of course the kennel denied such a thing could or would have happened. Based on that one occurrence we did think at the time, ok perhaps its not true, maybe she wasn’t attacked.

And now this…

Why am I sharing?  Because this could help another family, this could make the kennel completely adhere by the by-laws to ensure complete safety. OR simply make people plan their vacations around each other so that their pets can be cared for by someone you know and trust.

I had almost ‘forgotten’ about the contract the Kennel makes you sign before you take your dog there, of course as a fur mommy I read it and read the statement below, I also read it and thought well what could happen…

This is the paragraph at the top of their contract:

All pets are boarded or are otherwise handled and cared for by XXXXXXXXX without
liability on Kennel’s part for loss or damage from disease, theft, fire, death, running away,
injury or harm to persons, other pets or property by said pet, or other unavoidable causes,
due diligence and care having been exercised.

Hmmmm… could something have happened before, especially the last part of that paragraph.

Really and truly makes me wonder.

Socializing 8 dogs together, EIGHT BIG DOGS… which apparently resulted in Hazel being paralyzed – this WAS unavoidable IF they had been socialized in small groups.

Their website states they socialize the dogs for 30 min at a time 3 times a day. Apparently its easier for them to socialize ALL dogs together, to minimize the owners time in the kennel…  No? Thats not it? Ok so how are they guaranteeing the dogs are ALL safe while socializing strange dogs all together? Most likely so they had time they need for other things, which yes includes a side venture they have in addition to the kennel. To each their own, I seriously could care less what they do with their “free” time, however when its jeopardized the safety of our family member…

I will not publish this kennels name online. Quite frankly I Never.EVER want to see them again. I am sure if they ever do come across this blog post they will see how incredibly upset I am, how disgusted I am and how I most certainly feel they are responsible for what happened. Entirely.

My parents had insurance on Hazel, which came with her as a puppy – as many Lab owners know its quite common for them to have issues with their back legs, we also have the same insurance on our dog Becker. Had they not had this insurance they would have been faced with hundreds of thousands of dollars in vet bills. The money is not even what hurts – yet of course when reality hits yeah it would sting hard and makes the wounds even worse – but it does really really add insult to injury thats for sure. Your dog was in our care and was hurt so badly she was paralyzed, ok now go pay the vet bill…

Hug your pets. You truly never know what the future may bring…

Love these two. They are the best of friends!!!

Seeing my husband become a father was like falling in love with him all over again. Seeing the way he is with our kids, how much he loves them, the little details he pays close attention to, getting to go places with “just dad”, every moment he spends with them, or us as a family, for our kids it means the world. Hearing their little voices tell us they want to be a mommy and daddy when they grow up, I think we’re doing it right! ;)

I captured this image on hub’s birthday at the cottage. Both kids on his knee just erupting with laughter! I can still hear it. Warms my heart with so much love. Its true love moments like these that make any hard, frustrating days (with either the kids or hubs haha ;) ) soooo worth it, and makes me look forward to sooo many more! xoxoxo

Wishing my hubs a very happy birthday and many more wonderful years to come! Look how far you’ve come, look at what you’ve accomplished in life, especially these beautiful children of ours. You are not only an amazing man, you are the best husband and father a girl could ask for! I am very proud to be your wife!!! To many more happy and healthy years ahead!