Articles with end of life

End of Life Dog Care: My Love…The Last Chapter

Penny Philippi shares her story of end of life care for her soulmate dog. It’s 2017 the New Year. I see many resolutions being made and people calling for a new start. For me, I am still recovering. Dec 2015 I lost my dog, Harry. He succumbed to cancer. He was My Love’s brother. They were rescued together from a…

by Jana Rade

Losing a Heart Dog: Adopting A New Dog While Grieving For The Dog Of My Life

If you never lost a heart dog, it is impossible for you to understand the amount of pain that brings. To draw you a picture, I lost Jasmine, my heart dog, and my brother within one month. Jasmine’s passing hurt more. Jasmine Jasmine has been and always will be the dog of my life. She’s the one who turned me…

by Jana Rade

Grieving the Passing of a Dog: The Bond That Cannot Be Severed

Losing a dog can be just as painful as losing a family member or a loved one. After all, many dogs are family members. Jasmine’s passing hurt directly to the core. It was as if somebody ripped out a part of my heart. We will never forget Jasmine. My eyes look for you but cannot find youMy hands seek to…

by Jana Rade

Canine Euthanasia: Making the Final Decision for Your Dog

What criteria did we consider when making the last decision for Jasmine? I am not going to get into how terribly hard making the last decision for your dog is. Words cannot describe it. Only those who had to have made such a decision can truly appreciate that. I am merely going to explain the criteria we considered when making…

by Jana Rade

Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer by day, dog health advocate, dog writer, member of the Dog Writers Association of America, and an award-winning author in my spare time. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Endless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care into my own hands. I learned the hard way that simply seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to finally get a diagnosis for her initial issue. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to use 20 years of hard-earned experience to save others from the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way, as I did.

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