Hello Reader! My name is Abby and I have had dogs my entire life. I can’t imagine not having a dog at my side. I’ve had mixes, lab mixes, hound/beagle mixes and Golden Retrievers. All dogs are amazing, their different personalities and intelligence; it’s astounding. They say a house is just a home without a dog and I couldn’t agree more. Dogs help us experience life in ways that we otherwise couldn’t and they teach us new things about ourselves. They give us someone to love when we need it most, and love us back with unconditional love that is unparalleled. How lucky are we to have the love of dogs!
I grew up in rural Upstate New York on the border of Western Massachusetts in a field surrounded by woods and a creek. Walks with my dogs in the woods were a weekly, if not daily staple. Rain, show, sunshine – it didn’t matter, we would go out and see what we saw.
When I got my first golden, Stella, I decided to take some classes with her, because while I had always had dogs growing up, I wanted to experience dog classes, which was something my family had never done. I was lucky enough to encounter a force free dog trainer right form the start, who really drove home something I think I always knew for myself anyway, which is that if dogs are having fun and nothing scary is happening, they want to learn because they are happy and feel safe. After a few years of taking classes, I started helping her with her with classes and events. Mostly arranging equipment or helping her man booths at dog events. This exposed me to so many different people, their different dog breeds, but also other dog trainers in the area. After a little while it wasn’t hard to see the dogs that felt uncomfortable because of the style of training their owners were choosing to practice. I kept wondering why people would ever want to hurt or scare their dogs. So many of us consider our pets to be part of our families, but after observation it started to seem like some people don’t really treat their pets that way when it comes to expectations and their learning. I’ll write some blog articles about this at some point. But it was in this era that I realized, and still feel strongly about this today, just how important dog training – whether or not you seek a dog trainer or you are training yourself – actually is. It is a huge part of the relationship, trust and bond that you share with your dog. And who doesn’t want to have a loving trusting relationship and strong bond with their dog?
The other thing I want to help inform people of is the journey of dog health. When Stella was almost 5, I decided I wanted another Golden Retriever. This time, I decided I’d like a boy. I used the same breeder as Stella and the next sweet smushy little baby potato, Apollo, came home in February of 2017. Apollo has been one of the most difficult dogs I have ever owned, and not by his own fault. Around a year and a half old, he fell off my bed one morning and had a seizure. I was horrified, traumatized, scared, and so so worried for Apollo. What did this mean? I sought guidance from the breeder, contacted the Vet, and neither of them was too concerned. The breeder wanted it to be a flea and tick medication I had given him, the Vet said sometimes a dog just has a seizure and it never happens again.
Well a few months went by, some more seizures happened, more veterinary visits – new veterinarian this time – and a neurologist, and he was finally diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy. Idiopathic epilepsy is the kind where we don’t understand the underlying cause or trigger of the seizure. It’s likely genetic. The breeder refused to accept this answer and I do not communicate with her anymore. Over the years we have experienced varying degrees of seizure control. Apollo has cluster seizures which means he will have one seizure, not really come fully out of it, and then start to have a second seizure. Most recently we have been working with the incredible team over at Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital and have come up with multiple levels of hospital prevention. I am beyond grateful for the Neurological team there.
Things with Apollo are extra complicated because of his epilepsy. Now I work with two sets of veterinarians and they have to collaborate to make sure that any sort of treatment he may receive, for let’s say, Lyme Disease or pain, don’t have any impact on the efficacy of his many seizure medications. So like I said, Apollo’s unfortunately not an easy kiddo. But I mention this story because once he was officially diagnosed with epilepsy, I wanted to do everything I could to make him as healthy as possible because he already won’t live a completely normal life. I wanted to do what I could with good foods to be able to give him every other advantage health-wise. I’m a firm believer that you are what you put in your body and since dog’s don’t even live a quarter as long as we do, I owed it to Apollo to boost his chances for a healthy life in ways that were manageable and affordable for me.
Stella passed away in the fall of 2019 and I miss her with a giant heartache every day. Apollo is 8 and a half years old as of May 2025, and I hope I am lucky enough to give him 10 or more years of life. I can’t be the only one who has had a story like this and I want to provide some glimmer of hope for dog owners who don’t have that easy pet – and help those who are looking to learn new things, share ideas, and try to just give their dogs the best life possible. Because what’s life without a dog? Don’t we owe it to them as their caretakers to do our very best so that their all too short lives are as full as they can possibly be? I sure think so!