Joey

I got my baby 11 years ago at a puppy mill…I know…bad place. In my defense, my second pup was a rescue. Back to Joey… He was in a pin with three other adorable pups…but none of them seemed very interested in me or my friend. Joey on the other hand, followed us around like crazy. He was so excited at every little touch.  I couldn’t take my eyes off him. We left because I wasn’t able to really afford him at that moment. I got 5 miles up the street and couldn’t stop thinking about his lil pink belly and scruffy pink nose. I turned around and broke out the credit card….Best decision ever!.  Of course 11 years later looking back on that moment, I now understand why he was obsessed with us. It all makes sense now….my friend had just left work and smelled like Pizza! Joey is not starved by any means, and is obsessed with food. I literally have toddler locks on all of my kitchen cabinets because he can open all doors with his paw, including the refrigerator door. Every time I am eating, he is right there staring at me with those cute little black lined eyes…. He knows I’m weak. His favorite treat is a bite of my turkey bacon in the morning. It’s his eating obsession that allowed me the opportunity to discover the cancer early enough to treat it…you see it was during a rather expensive vet trip for a devoured and swallowed leather boot, that my vet discovered the thyroid mass. Gotta love a hound.

He and my other dog Abby, are the only things that have always been there for me and have loved me unconditionally. Joey and I have always had a close bond. He is attached to me from the second I get home to the second I leave. When I come home from work, he is sitting at the front door staring out waiting for my car to pull up. Which is why this is so hard for me. Prior to the surgery,  I hear him at night wheezing because when he slept, the mass pushed on his windpipe. Now that the mass has been removed, I’m faced with a new hardship…Chemo! It absolutely kills me and I feel powerless to help him. He is my best friend and I cannot help him due to the financial hardships I’ve had.