Hooligan (Noun): A Young Troublemaker

Hooligan has had her fair share of adventures. Now, she’s going through pet cancer treatments and her family is doing everything they can to help her through it. She’s being treated at the Advanced Radiation Treatment Center, which FETCH helped open in 2016 here in Richmond, and has received financial assistance from FETCH a Cure’s Companions in Crisis program to help give her more quality time with the people she loves most. Read more about Hooligan from her owner:

Living Up to Her Name

It’s hard to briefly describe Hooligan, but I suppose it’s fair to start with her name. As a puppy (and maybe some now too), she lived up to her name – earned it really. She is quite the escape artist, although the escapes are typically just the result of separation anxiety, and has managed to get out of metal crates without much evidence of how. She once busted herself out, then freed the other dog in the house and proceeded to eat all the Easter candy we left on the kitchen table. While my mother was watching her for the day, she even scaled a 6-foot wooden privacy fence and ended up shutting down I-64W running to try and find me. She was luckily unharmed but wasn’t allowed by herself in even a fenced yard for years afterwards. 

Don’t get the wrong idea though. While she certainly is an active dog (we love to run 2-6 miles together even now that she is 11), there is so much more to her. She is one of the most loving, nurturing dogs I have ever seen. If someone cries, she is next to them in an instant to cuddle or kiss or simply be next to them, and I have regularly been told that she should be a therapy dog. She is gentle and sweet to not only people, but other animals as well. I once came home to find that, during a thunderstorm, she had pulled her dog bed from the living room across the house and next to the puppy’s crate, so she could comfort her. She has been such a loving role model to Sunny (the puppy), that I can safely say she has helped me to train Sunny!

Honestly, I could go on forever, because Hooligan has been with me through every major up and down in my life. In the hardest of times she is there to remind me of why I should be happy and to give me the love and comfort I need. In the happiest moments she is there to share in the celebration with loud happy barks and a big smile. I may be biased, but I truly believe that she is the perfect dog.

She had a soft tissue sarcoma removed from her elbow in 2018. It was a grade 1 so I thought it would have a low chance of returning. However, it came back in February 2020. I was hopeful if surgery was performed again, it would not return for another 2 years. I have since learned this is not typically the case. It again came back in May so I decided to undergo further preventative measures.

To learn more about how FETCH a Cure provides funding for pet cancer treatments, please visit our Companions in Crisis FAQs page.