frankie the walk n roll dog

Remembering Frankie as We Keep on Rolling by Jenny Pavlovic

Posted by Barbara Techel

I’ve been very fortunate in making some wonderful connections with some amazing women doing amazing work because of my work with Frankie.  Jenny is right up there on my list of being a compassionate, kind, and sincere woman!  Thank you to her for this lovely tribute to Frankie!

 

Frankie (short for Francesca), a Dachshund, injured her back and was diagnosed with intervertebral disc disease (IVDD). Her back legs were paralyzed and her people, Barbara Techel and her husband John of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, first thought they would have to put Frankie down. But Frankie’s amazing spirit and will to ‘keep on rolling’ led Barbara to learn about wheelchairs for dogs. Frankie was fitted with her own chair and Barbara learned how to take care of her in her new condition. Barbara learned a lot from Frankie as she discovered that Frankie could still have a wonderful quality of life and had much to teach us.

I learned of Barbara and Frankie a few years ago whentheir first book, Frankie the Walk ‘N Roll Dog(https://joyfulpaws.com/books/), won the Dog Writers Association of America Merial Human-Animal Bond award. I became pen pal friends with Barbara and watched as Frankie became a therapy dog and Barbara and Frankie reached out to the elderly and to school children. They spread Frankie’s positive messages far and wide, as this differently-abled little dog shared her tremendous spirit and kept on rolling.
Frankie dramatically changed Barbara’s life, gave Barbara a voice and a message that had to be shared, and turned Barbara into an author. In many ways, Barbara’s story with Frankieparalleled my story with 8 State Hurricane Kate. Barbara and I went on the Passions and Possibilities radio show together (listen to our podcast at http://tinyurl.com/passions-and-possibilities) and both contributed our stories to the book Dogs and the Women Who Love Them: Extraordinary True Stories of Loyalty, Healing and Inspiration by Allen and Linda Anderson (http://www.dogsandthewomenwholovethem.com/).

My Final Visit to Libby’s House Without My Wheelie Dog Side Kick

Posted by Barbara Techel

Yesterday I made my final visit to Libby’s House, where Frankie and I were a volunteer therapy dog team for 3 ½ years.  The original plan was that it was to be my last visit with Frankie since she was retiring. But as we know, life does not always go as planned.  So off I went alone.

Let me first back up and say that the Wednesday before this, I met with the owner of Libby’s House, Christine. She couldn’t be there for the day of my last visit but had a gift for me.  She gave me the plaque above which is with one my favorite residents- Libby herself, who Libby’s House is named after and happens to be Christine’s grandmother.  This photo was taken two years ago when Libby was a mere 103.  Libby’s House also made a very generous donation to Frankie’s Wheelchair Memorial Fund.   I was, and am quite honored.

I had butterflies in my stomach as I drove to Libby’s House. I knew it would be hard to say goodbye.  Are goodbyes ever easy?  But I knew I needed to do this for the residents. They needed closure, too.  I’ve loved all my therapy dog work with Frankie, but I have to say, Libby’s House became one of my favorite.  So many became my surrogate grandparents and I grew to care and love many of them.

Being a volunteer at Libby’s House was sometimes a guessing game as to who has dementia and who has  Alzheimer’s.  And some are there for other reasons, but because of the HPPA act I was not allowed to know.  While that made me uneasy at the beginning, especially of how I should react around Alzheimer’s patients, what I took away from this experience is that they are all still human beings with hearts and souls… that they still wish to be heard and loved. And they deserve to be treated with dignity and grace.

The staff was so kind to me and many hugs were exchanged. It felt very odd being there without Frankie, but it also felt comforting.  This was a place that I enjoyed coming to each month, though it could be sad at times witnessing the decline of some of the residents or when they passed away. But it was also always my reminder that life is about living and we must enjoy each and every possible moment while here.

For the residents who could understand that Frankie is no longer here, I gave them a photo collage of Frankie.  One resident who Frankie and I always went to her room to visit, a witty, charming, wonderful 96-year old red head lady, told me that she will say hi to Frankie when she gets home.  I always told her she and Frankie were my favorite red heads and it brought a smile to my face thinking of those two meeting again someday.

Another resident who I refer to as Janice in my children’s book, Frankie the Walk ‘N Roll Therapy Dog Visits Libby’s House, is one resident I will miss greatly.  She was quite gruff the first time I met her, telling me she DID NOT LIKE DOGS.  I was up for the challenge and somehow knew it was just her exterior that was tough.  She became one of my favorite residents, too and also within six months grew to love Frankie, as well.  She is quite the spitfire, and her and I so enjoyed razzing each other.

Janice was the drive behind making sure as many people as possible at Libby’s House signed a copy of my book I wrote about Libby’s House. They all wrote wonderful notes of how they loved when Frankie visited and how they will miss her.  What a treasure that book is now to me with all their notes and signatures!

I also sat with Libby who is now 105 and going as strong as ever.  She held my hand and said,” l’ll bet you really miss Frankie.” She continued to pat my hand as we chatted and I couldn’t help but think of how I felt like a young girl once again being comforted by my grandma when I hurt… and how good that felt.  One of my best memories with Libby is when she was petting Frankie and she looked up at me and said, “Frankie is love.”

Once again as I set off to visit Libby’s House,  I went with the idea that I would be helping  them and to bring them closure… and realizing as I walked out the door for the last time, that they all brought me comfort and closure, too.  And even though my dog on wheels was not rolling beside me for this visit, I felt her memories of hope, joy, and love alive and well within the hearts of all our friends at Libby’s House.

 

Why I Will Continue To Advocate for IVDD and Wheelchair Dogs

Posted by Barbara Techel

I’ve gotten so many emails since Frankie’s passing two weeks ago– all very touching– and the ones I find my heart ooze over with complete joy are the ones of people who I’ve heard from that Frankie and I have been able to help when their dog was diagnosed with IVDD– the ones we gave hope and they saw too, that they could care for their dog with IVDD– that it was not a death sentence.  It is why I will continue to advocate for IVDD and wheelchair dogs and it brings me complete happiness to help others through this.

Here is an email I got today from a woman named Staci sharing with me her story.  I’m so happy we could help give her hope.

Although I do not know exactly what to say in times like these, I felt that I should write you because your stories helped me feel so much better. 2 weeks ago, my Dachshund Clyde ruptured a disk in his spine. His back legs were paralyzed and he could not control his bladder.  I also thought, “Why is this happening to me?” Clyde is 6 years old and I had a feeling it was going to happen at some point in his life, but I just never thought it would be so sudden. It brings me to tears to even think about it.

As they told us about all the possibilities that could happen, the 2 main things I kept thinking about was, 1.) If he was in a wheel chair and could not control his bladder, he would be put to sleep or 2.)  He could be in a wheel chair for the rest of his life and I could not come to grips with that. I felt like my life would never be the same if that happened. When I started to read all of your stories I started to feel very selfish because even though Clyde might have ended up in a wheel chair, I would still have him in my life and that meant more to me than anything. I felt that I should write you as you are going through this rough time to tell you that ya’lls stories and encouraging words helped me understand that just because he might have ended up in a wheel chair, I would still have him and he would still love us no matter what happened. Clearly, this was the case with Frankie as well. Although she has passed, she will live on forever. I just wanted to thank you, with your stories you helped me overcome something very difficult.

I’ll continue to help who I can through those reaching out to me via email or phone with their dogs diagonosed with IVDD.  And I’ll continue to share with them Dodgerslist, a caring and dedicated organization who help educate others about this disease, as well as, share Eddie’s Wheels as one of the best dog wheelchair companies out there.