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Mom, tell me again the story about how you chose me. Ernest, we chose you because you needed us, and we needed you. I'm so excited that Ernest's adoption story is shared on Chewy.com's Pet Stories. I've been a Chewy Influencer for years, reviewing and blogging about various products, so I was delighted to contribute this story to their site as well. Canine Cancer Survivor Becomes Therapy Dog to Man With Alzheimer’s Pet Stories / Posted on 12-28-17 Posted by Chewy   Animal Rescue Story: Ernest Finds a Forever Home This post is by Chewy Influencer Peggy Frezon. Our first senior dog rescue was 11 years old when we adopted him. I shook my head and told my husband, “He’ll break our hearts.” My husband looked at me and said, “But he needs us.” So, we adopted the sad, skin-and-bones Golden Retriever, named him Brooks, and fell in love with him. And sure enough, he broke our hearts—but not before filling them with love and joy. Brooks helped us find our missi...

Petting your dog may save his life. Ernest is a good boy.  A few weeks ago Ernest was at his therapy dog prep class. In between exercises my husband was petting him, stroking his fur like we both do numerous times a day. I'm sure you do with your dog, too. But this time he felt something different. A small bump near Ernest's shoulder. Later that night he showed me. It looked like a mosquito bite. I didn't think anything of it at all. Mike shows me the lump. It's barely the size of a mosquito bite.  A few days later we were at a vet appointment for our puppy. Ernest was with us. Mike happened to mention the bump to the vet. She looked, taking more interest in it than I thought, which surprised me. "I'll aspirate it and take a look," she said, inserting a small needle into the area. To be honest, my only thought at the time was, here goes our bill up, up, up! The next night we received a phone call about 9pm. The vet.  "It's not benign," she s...

Saturday, my sweet dog Ike died of hemangiosarcoma. Tragically, we had no idea he was seriously ill. In fact, he'd had his senior exam not long before this. We were constantly alert to Ike's daily health, and probably nothing would have changed the sad outcome. I'm sharing these details in the hopes it may help someone else...although sadly, there is very little that can be done to prevent or treat it. At the end I will list a few suggestions. Ike's symptoms (*this may not be the way it is for all dogs): 1. Ike was 10 years old. Over the last several months he seemed excessively tired at night, preferring to remain on his pillow in the living room rather than climb the stairs to join us. We'd mentioned it to our vet who surmised multiple possibilities for this. Maybe it was joint pain. We even considered that he wanted to be downstairs to stay with our other dog, who had started sleeping downstairs as well. Maybe it was just part of aging. Looking back, it was the c...

Meet my pal Bocker. He is one really inspiring dog. Here's Bocker reading Faithfully Yours !  Zeke, Ike and Kelly enjoyed reading his book, Chasing Bocker's Tale . I thought you'd like to learn some more about him. Eight Fun Facts about Bocker 1. He's a model. His first ad was for Tommy Hilfiger. 2. He's famous for his adorable head tilt. 3. His name came from his mom's favorite basketball team, the New York Knickerbockers. 4. He played a role on the movie Eat, Pray, Love. 5. He's a certified therapy dog. 6. He listens to children read as a "Tail Wagging Tutor." 7.  He's active in causes helping people and animal advocacy. 8. He was recently diagnosed with cancer and is now three months post-chemo and is kicking cancer's butt! Visit Bocker's website .