SWESR is fortunate to have wonderful and dedicated volunteers, many of whom have been with the organization since its inception. Susan is one such volunteer, who has fostered, forever fostered, and adopted more dogs in her adult life than she can count. A dozen? Absolutely. Two dozen? Yes. Three dozen? More? Highly likely. So many have gone in and out of her home, but here are the stories of two special dogs with very different stories, both of whom made the same indelible mark on Susan’s heart.

Hazel was a tricolor who came into rescue in 2018 as an older lady of 13. When she was surrendered, Hazel was riddled with invasive mammary tumors, the cancer having spread to her lymphatic system. She was given five months to live.

Having finally found a caring and loving home where she could receive supportive hospice care, Hazel blossomed and her spirit aged in reverse. She exuded joy for life as she discovered furniture privileges, enjoyed naps in her foster dad’s arms, enthusiastically dug holes in the backyard, ate whatever she wanted, and hunted for lizards. Unfortunately, her cancer didn’t reverse age with her. Hazel succumbed to the disease in just two months. Susan and her husband wanted more time with this special girl and felt cheated for time since she was so full of life. However, they still have physical reminders of her time with them, as they haven’t filled in any of the holes she dug, except for one, into which they planted a tree that grows to this day and will forever memorialize a special English Setter named Hazel.

As soon as Susan saw Daphne during a 2014 rescue mission, she said “I get her!”. Daphne was the spitting image of an English Setter she’d had previously named Hank. Found along the Texas coast, Daphne was in terrible condition. It was clear she had been mistreated. She was heartworm positive, with a heavy load of worms, meaning she’d had the disease for a long time. She had multiple tick borne diseases, including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ehrlichiosis, and Bartonella. She had some BB pellets in her.

Daphne’s recovery was a long one. Her heartworm treatment was done at home. It’s important during heartworm recovery that the dog be kept quiet and still, but Daphne destroyed every kennel and crate she was put in. Keeping her calm was a real challenge. Finally, Susan and her husband decided to stay with her always, so she didn’t have to be crated. As part of her treatment, she had to have large doses of “big gun” antibiotics, which played havoc with her stomach. She experienced flares of lethargy and went off her food. Tick panels sent out of state for processing showed a recurrence of the Bartonella. She developed pancreatitis. She had to have her spleen removed. She developed toe cancer, and her toe had to be amputated. It was a miracle Daphne survived all this, but she did. As anyone who’s been sick knows, it’s all too easy to focus only on yourself and your miseries when ill. Yet despite all her maladies, Daphne was acutely sensitive to human emotion. If she sensed her humans were upset, she would press her face into their leg or side to calm them. Despite weighing 65 pounds, Daphne was a lap dog. She would sit on her mom or dad’s lap and lean into them. They couldn’t sit down without Daphne on top of them, resting her head over a shoulder, or flopping upside down with her head in their lap. Her smarts and personality indicated she would have made a great therapy dog, but Daphne didn’t want to be separated from Susan for anything, not even sit/stay training.

Susan and her husband had a little Dachshund at the same time, whose name was Jenny, and she and Daphne were best friends. The four of them slept in the same bed, with Jenny lying across a pillow, Daphne down the middle, and Susan and her husband on either side, ensuring no dog accidentally rolled out of bed at night. When Daphne struggled with incontinence as an older girl, she wore diapers with cute panties over them. Laser therapy, acupuncture, and water treadmill therapy helped ease aches and pains in her last years. A formerly abused stray, Daphne lived for a decade after rescue, dying at an estimated age of 16, never leaving her mother’s side.