Hannahs HOPE Inc

07/02/2025

🎬 HH Moment 020325 ~ SISSY UPDATE! 😎

This past Monday (2/3/25) marked SISSY’s 1 Month "Hannah-versary" at Hannahs HOPE Inc and she has been making EXTRAORDINARY progress 😌

For a Little Girl who just 4 weeks ago couldn’t stand, walk, dragged her back legs behind her and was told she would probably never walk again, this video compilation of the last 3 weeks shows the great “strides” SISSY has made towards recovery. (Get it… Strides?) 😄

Her first two weeks were pretty much just bedrest with very limited exercise and daily physical therapy, which was basically just some leg joint stretching and resistance exercises to try to keep her legs strong while her spine healed.

SISSY got daily multi-vitamins, glucosamine and an egg every day in her dinner to keep her protein intake high. Other than that, nothing too special.
She never did use or like the wheelchair… I think she found it annoying, lol 😏

She’s not walking at 100% and really, I don’t think she ever will, but she’s doing a damn sight better than I could ever have hoped.
Keep Rockin’ It SISSY Girl! 🥰 🐾~

30/01/2025

Today would have been HANNAH's 17th Birthday 💔😔
Keep Running Free HANNAH... and PLAY! 🥰 🐾~

09/01/2025

Just before Christmas, I got a phone call from a gentleman who needed to surrender his Dog.
She had apparently sustained an injury to her spine and lost the use of her back legs and he couldn’t afford to give her the proper care she needed. Without a new Home, she was facing euthanasia, so the vet suggested looking for a Rescue that could take her.

She was only 4 years old, very Sweet and still had control of her bodily functions, she just couldn’t walk.
Otherwise healthy and happy, smiling and barking to play, even wagging her tail, she can sometimes get her legs under her and stand, but she dragged her back legs.

I called the vet’s office and spoke with the staff and they told me that SISSY had shown some minor improvement since her intake, but her prognosis wasn’t great.
They believed that it wasn’t a degenerative disease but that she had injured herself, probably jumping.
She might get better with time and therapy, but probably not. There were no guarantees.

Now, some of you may remember FRED 🥰
FRED was a Senior Puggle I took in several years ago with similar circumstances.
He had been found on the streets, dragging his back legs and given no chance of recovery.
He was about to be euthanized when he was saved by some very nice people and brought to Hannahs HOPE 😌

I bought him a “wheelchair”, started his physical therapy and about 2 months later he surprised me one morning when I told him to come get in his “chair” for his walk and instead he got up and walked across the room to the door 😄
FRED found an Awesome Family and went on to live for several more years before he passed away in his new Home happy, healthy and very Loved 💖

I couldn’t help but think of FRED as I considered taking on this commitment to SISSY.
She faced the same outlook as had FRED and though he had tried, SISSY’s human could not find anyone to take her and he really didn’t want to have to put her down at such a young age.

I thought looooong and hard about this one.
Money is tight and Dogs cost money… and this wasn’t “just another Dog”. SISSY was going to need more care than a ‘normal’ Dog.
I don’t go out looking for Dogs to take in, but when I’m asked about a Special Needs Dog, I know from experience how hard it is to find them a place to go that they can call Home… and what can happen if they don’t. It's what I do.

And I still had FRED’s “wheelchair” 🥹

After considering it for a few days, (and discussing it with my other Dogs), we, (the Dogs and I), decided to bring SISSY into the Family, but thought that doing so during the Holidays when it was so busy here might not be the best for her, so I asked if I could wait until the New Year, and it was agreed.

SO… on January 3rd, SISSY arrived.
She came right up to me, smiling and wagging her tail.
After some paperwork and tearful goodbyes, SISSY and I sat down on the floor and got to know each other one on one while she checked the place out, then she started meeting her new Family.

SISSY has no fear, likes every Dog she meets and they all like her.
I have her on very limited exercise for now to give her some time to see if she’ll heal, but we do the same PT I did with FRED and when she’s “out & about” she follows my every step like she’s velcro-ed to my ankle, lol, sits at my feet when I’m at my desk and has no problem just chillin’ with the other Dogs 😎
I have to keep her calm when she’s with them though… she just wants to “run” and play 😏

What strikes me, is that SISSY seems to gravitate to my Dog RUPERT, a former Guest turned K9 Staff who joined the Family in March of 2022. Last year, he started showing the first signs/symptoms of Degenerative Myelopathy and has been slowly losing the use of his back legs 😔
“Dogs of a feather flock together”, I guess and Yes, I have a “wheelchair” waiting for him too when the time comes 😉

SISSY has tried her “wheelchair” a couple times, but it’s going to take some time to learn how to use it since she does have some movement in her back legs and she tries to walk.
Hopefully, she’ll get better and won’t need it… but it fits perfectly 😊

She says she’s too young to be called a Retiree and wants to “carry her own weight”, (so to speak), so please welcome to the Family, New K9 Staff Member SISSY! ❤️😎 🐾~

09/01/2025

Every first week of the New Year, I go into semi-seclusion, not only to “rest & recover” from the Holidays, but to mourn and grieve the loss of 2 of the most Special people in my Life, both of whom passed in the first week of the year, albeit 9 years apart; my Wife, Nina, who left us January 6, 2008, and my last Girlfriend, Ranay, who founded Hannahs HOPE and passed on New Years Day 2017 💔

The ‘New Year’, indeed, the whole Holiday Season in general is not a happy time in ‘my world’, nor is it a time for celebration. It is a time of reflection, remembrance and great loss that for me is profoundly sad and emotional and this year was, for some reason, especially difficult, so please forgive my recent online ‘absence’.

We’ve had our share of additions and losses in 2024.
We lost Retirees BRUCE & NINA (14) to age in January and July 😔, but in February MISS BRENDA the Chicken joined the Family, as did PREACHER (K9 Staff) in March and LUNA (K9 Staff) in April, both owner surrenders.
In May my Sweet SOPHIE (15) passed away which was a real gut punch 💔 I thought she’d live forever 😪
LONDON (K9 Staff) then arrived in June and SQUEAK (K9 Staff) came in September.
Those who are gone are deeply missed and they too, were remembered and mourned 😔

That being said, I hope Everyone has a Happy New Year with lots of Love, Fun and Happiness to come in the days, weeks and months ahead 😊

We do have a new Family member this first month of 2025 as SISSY joins the K9 Staff as of January 3rd. I’ll post her story tomorrow 😉

I just wanted to say THANK YOU Everyone for your Love and Support in the Past, Present and Future 😌
Happy New Year 😎 🐾~

07/11/2024

HENRY UPDATE 110624:
HAPPY 5 YEAR HANNAH-VERSARY OL’ MAN! 🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔🥳
I’ve known HENRY since before ‘The Pandemic’ 😷
which seems so long ago now 🫤
I have no idea when his birthday is, but I figured him to be about 6 when he retired here at Hannahs HOPE Inc, so this month, HENRY turns 11! 🎂🍔🦴

In those years of “gaining Wisdom”, HENRY has learned 3 things;
1) Potty is for outside 😎
2) What the word “Dinner” means 🤤
3) To stare at me like I’m speaking gibberish and can’t be bothered when I say ANY other word 😏

But he’s a Good Ol' Boy, he gets along with everybody and I Love him ❤️ You’re a Good Boy HENRY 🥰😎 🐾~

09/10/2024

Welcome New K9 Staff Member SQUEAK! 🥰

At the beginning of September, I got a call from a guy about a little Dog that he’d found.
For two days, he checked with his neighbors and the L&F sites for anyone who might be looking for her, but no luck.
After 2 days, his wife told him the Dog had to go and when he called the local ‘shelter’, he was told they were full and to “let it go where you found it and someone else will pick it up” 😠

The Dog only weighed 5 pounds, so he didn’t want to do that and rightly so. He lived out in the country and knew this tiny, little Girl would literally either starve to death or get eaten.
Could I take her?

I told him I was really sorry, that I couldn’t at this time, but if he brought her by, I would scan her for a microchip in the hopes that someone was missing her.
When he arrived, he had this scared, shaking, barely 5 pound little ball of fluff in his arms. I scanned her. Nothing. No chip 😔
“I can’t keep her”, he said… “My wife said absolutely not.” 😞

I looked down at her scared, little face with her crooked ear and she squeaked 🥺
Not a bark or even a yap. She looked at me and squeaked like a squeaky toy.
I couldn’t turn her away.
I told the guy I would keep her while I posted her on the L&F pages in the area to see if anyone had lost her.

Fast forward a month.
No one ever responded to my posts.
In the meantime, she and my little TOBY have fallen in Love and are inseparable 💞
They eat together, play together and sleep together.
She is now fearless and loves to play with any Dog she can get to play with her, big or small and has chosen her name.
Her name is SQUEAK 😊
Welcome to the Family SQUEAK! 🥰 🐾~

07/10/2024

Welcome New K9 Staff Member LONDON! 😎
I first met LONDON back in May when she came to board.
Her people had just moved to the area and couldn’t find a place to live that would allow Dogs, so they needed a place for LONDON to stay while they kept looking.

An adult, female American Bulldog, LONDON had not been exposed to many other Dogs and didn’t really get along too well with others, so I made some adjustments to the routine to accommodate her and keep her separate from other Dogs while still giving her plenty of outside and playtime… and I got to know her. She was a Sweet Dog, and OK with SOME Dogs, just not Everyone 😌

After about a month or so, in June, LONDON’s people called to say they were picking her up.
“Oh”, I said, “You found a place that will let you keep LONDON!”
“No”, she said, “We’re going to surrender her to the ‘shelter’”.

I explained to her on the phone that LONDON’s future didn’t look good. ALL the ‘shelters’ were full and IF they did take her in, being an owner surrender and with her behavioral issues, she would most likely never leave the ‘shelter’ alive.

I offered them half-price boarding and my help finding a new Family for LONDON, to give them some more time to find a place and they said they would think about it and get back to me.

About an hour later they called back and said they were coming to get her.
When they arrived, I asked again if they were going to keep her.
“No”, she said again, “We’re going to go ahead and surrender her to the ‘shelter’”.

Now honestly, I did not need another Dog, especially one that was not well socialized and was going to need a lot of work, but I could NOT, in good conscience, doing what I do every day, ESPECIALLY after she lived in my Home for a month, hand this Dog back to people who not only no longer wanted her, but were going to surrender her, KNOWING that she would most likely be euthanized, possibly before they were even out of the ‘shelter’ parking lot.

I handed her a surrender form and asked her to sign it.

Welcome to the Family LONDON! 🥰 🐾~

07/10/2024

🌀 HERE WE GO AGAIN 🌀🙄 HURRICANE MILTON EVACUEES ‼️
Hurricane MILTON is heading for Southern Florida this week, so
The Dog Den Crestview / Hannahs HOPE Inc is ready for Evacuee Boarders 😉
If you’ll be heading to the Florida PanHandle to escape the storm and need a place for your Dog(s) to ‘PLAY When They STAY’,
we DO have room available!
Just give us a call and we’ll get you all set up 📞 850.296.7955 📞
Stay Smart and Stay Safe! 😎 🐾~

23/09/2024

With Hurricane HELENE possibly striking the Florida PanHandle this this week, The Dog Den Crestview is double-checking all of our supplies and making sure we’re ready. (We've done this before) 😉
If you’ll be heading out of town and need a place for your Dog(s) to ’weather the storm’, we DO have room available! 😀
Just give us a call and we’ll get you all set up 📞 850.296.7955 📞
Stay Smart and Stay Safe! 😎 🐾~

With Hurricane HELENE possibly striking the Florida PanHandle this week, The Dog Den Crestview is double-checking all of our supplies and making sure we’re ready. (We've done this before) 😉
If you’ll be heading out of town and need a place for your Dog(s) to ’weather the storm’, we DO have room available! 😀
Just give us a call and we’ll get you all set up 📞 850.296.7955 📞
Stay Smart and Stay Safe! 😎 🐾~

07/09/2024

Finder checked neighborhood for owners, but couldn't keep.
Brought to Hannahs HOPE Inc after Animal Control hours on Sept 6 🐾~

02/09/2024

27/08/2024

I promise, I did NOT forget National Dog Day! 🐕
This past Friday, after 6 years, my desktop computer crashed, (motherboard failure), apparently reaching what Dell calls "EOL"... "End of Life" 😔 and I have been without a computer.
ALL, and I mean ALL of my files, (client records, forms, passwords and PICS) have been inaccessible 🙄
Until my new 'puter arrives, (hopefully today), I have been trying to survive on an old backup laptop 😱 In the meantime, I hope Everyone had a Happy National Dog Day! 🐾~