Thursday, November 24, 2011

4 Puppies in a Tent-Nicole's Story

Thatcher, his friend Olive and Dakota
Nicole with Thatcher & Dakota, courtesy Dan Rapoza Photography
Cooper & Dempsey



Author, Nicole Fernandes






Lesson I learned from my puppy: "How to save a
Life"






Losing your pup is one of the hardest things, but when your pup loses both of her brothers in 14 months
then what? How do you explain it to her and help her through it?






My sweet chocolate Lab Dakota had spent her life with her
big brother Cooper (Bull mastiff) and her baby brother Dempsey (Frenchie). The
3 of them were absolutely inseparable. When we lost Cooper to cancer in April
of 2010, Dakota was devastated and it took weeks for her to become herself
again. Then this past June we suddenly lost Dempsey and Dakota's heart was
completely broken. Her pack was gone and she was alone.






I own a doggie daycare which Dakota has many friends at, but
they were not "Hers". People who think “come on, it's just a dog",
they have no idea the heartbreak to watch your dog stop playing, stop eating
and the saddest thing of all stop living.






So what do you do? How do you help her?






I tired different flower essence for grief it did nothing. Dakota
was going down fast, she had lost 9lbs in 1 month. In speaking with her
veterinarian I did not have many options I was losing her. Her vet and I had
discussed putting her on an anti- depressant, which neither of us wanted to do.






My vet then said I know you may not be ready, but I think
the only thing that will help her is to get her a puppy. You can never replace
what she's lost BUT you can bring a little piece of love back into her world!






Baby Thatcher walked into our home and saved my Dakota's life.
As much as our hearts are breaking for the loss, our pups grieve just as deeply
and sometimes as I learned even deeper.






An Unconditional Love is not only felt between people, it's
felt between souls.






Nicole began http://www.anunconditionallove.com/ in 2010
when Cooper was diagnosed with cancer.
She is also the owner of http://pawzdoggiedaycare.com/ and a board
member of http://www.2milliondogs.org/.





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