disabled pets

Joie, My Late Dachshund with IVDD, Forever Beautiful in Stained Glass

joie stained glassI received many lovely gifts for my birthday, but truly, none more touching than this stained glass of my Joie given to me by my mama. She commissioned an artist friend to do this for me.

It will be one year August 22 since Joie moved into spirit world. You may recall that I adopted her from Oregon Dachshund Rescue knowing she had IVDD and needed a wheelchair. John worked his magic and took Frankie’s wheelchair and adjusted it to fit Joie.

Joie was only with us for ten short months. But she left many gifts behind. Her biggest lessons to me were to pause, sit in stillness, and to understand that I no longer needed to prove my worthiness. I can rest securely in who I am.

As I did a bit of research for this post, I went to the Facebook page for the movie Joie took part in last August, The Surface Movie. I was wondering if there was any notice of a date of when the movie will be out in our area.

As I scrolled down the page I saw a post noting the movie is now complete. The post was on July 14th. Four days before my birthday and three days after my mom gifted me with this special gift.

Tears immediately sprang to my eyes. Joie’s spirit is strong and well. My heart smiles.

It will be bittersweet to see her in the movie (I’ll keep you posted once it is out in theater’s- projected to come out later this year). But I’m ready to see her sweet face roll across the big screen in her wheelchair. It is going to be a proud, proud moment.

The stained glass piece of her is a shining, loving reminder of how lucky I was to have her in my life, even if for just a short time. She blessed me in ways I would have not otherwise been blessed.

Inspiring Stories About Pets with Disabilities–Featuring Yours Truly– Joie, a Walk ‘N Roll Dog

DisabilitiesIt is with great honor that I announce my story of how I came to love another wheelchair dog, Joie,  is part of this wonderful new book from Happy Tails Books and Kylie Duffy, Lost Souls Found: Inspiring Stories About Pets with Disabilities. 

A portion of the proceeds, should you elect this as your charity of choice, will go to “Red Flyer,” so your donation can go toward providing carts for pets with mobility issues. I happen to think this is a pretty special thing!

About the book:

Some people with giant hearts set out to help pets with disabilities. Other people somehow come to have special-needs pets before they realize how blessed they are to have received the pet they needed, even if it wasn’t necessarily the pet they wanted at first. Whatever the case, many people find that their “special-abled” pets have added a new dimension to their lives that no readily-adoptable pet ever could.

Lost Souls: FOUND! Inspiring Stories About Pets with Disabilities is full of 40+ stories from people whose lives have been touched by “less-adoptable” animals, animals with physical or mental limitations that significantly affect their lives. These uplifting stories prove that animals with disabilities can prove to be equally good, if not better, companions than “normal” animals.

PRE-ORDER your copy today!  All orders will ship out first week of July.

All stories were submitted as volunteer and a way of helping spread a positive message about the many blessings pets with special needs are. I tip my hat and my heart to all those who love special needs pets and who submitted stories. And I am honored to proudly display this certificate in my writing cottage for recognition of my story of Joie as one of the feature stories.

Techel joie story certificate feature story

Fundraiser for Bookworm Gardens & The Frankie Wheelchair Fund

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On May 4th Joie and I will be leading a walk  in memory of my dear Frankie the Walk ‘N Roll Dog whose legacy lives on in Bookworm Gardens— a children’s garden dedicated to literacy, nature, and bringing families together.

This is a special event called “Walk, Roll, and Read Day” to help celebrate the season opener for Bookworm Gardens, as well as the life of Frankie. Bookworm Gardens is free to the public to attend, so this fundraiser will help to keep it free to everyone visiting.

Bookworm Gardens has been so supportive of my work with Frankie and will be donating a portion of the proceeds raised on May 4th to the Frankie Wheelchair Fund. As you can imagine this makes my heart sing!

Joie and I are asking you to consider pledging us for our walk to help Bookworm Gardens and the Frankie Wheelchair Fund. Please don’t feel obligated. But if you have $1.00, $5.00, or $10  to spare we thank you for your pledge!

You can make a pledge below through your Paypal account or with a credit card (for credit card click on “Don’t have Paypal Account?” link which takes you to page to fill out name, etc.)

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Joie is training hard for the walk and roll event and in case you missed the video here it is again!