LOVELAND, Colo.—Jack, an 11-year-old Boston terrier, has several cancerous tumors, a heart murmur, a spreading dental infection and only one eye, but that doesn’t mean his foster mom, Michelle Fleming, loves him any less.
In fact, she’s willing to do anything to give him the best life possible following a series of recent hardships that rocked the stout and tanklike dog’s life.
“It means everything to be able to give him what he deserves,” said Fleming, an Evans resident who took Jack into her home in early April after his owner, Rod Deane of Kansas, died from pancreatic cancer. This put Jack and his brother, Stan, up against the odds of finding a family that was willing to adopt two senior dogs—a fate often difficult to achieve.
Deane’s cousin, Golden resident Jerri Paulison, already had two Dobermans and a German shepherd, and couldn’t legally exceed Jefferson County’s three-dog limit. So she got to digging, and made a connection through Facebook to Izzy’s Place Senior Dog Sanctuary and Rescue in Loveland that paired Jack and Stan with the Fleming family and its two Boston terriers, Maggie and Clover.
“It was such a gift,” Paulison said, choking up as she talked about finding Izzy’s Place and then a family for her cousin’s dogs. “Without (Fleming), I don’t know what I’d do.”
Stan died just days after the Flemings gave him a home, and it’s likely Jack could too, if he doesn’t undergo about $1,800 in surgeries for his ailments. That’s why Izzy’s Place hosted a recent fundraiser at Hank’s Pet Food Market to help offset medical expenses for him and another Izzy’s Place dog, a 7-year-old boxer mix named Lizzie.
Rescued from a high-kill shelter in Texas and brought to Loveland two weeks ago, Lizzie has mammary tumors that will cost $1,200 in two surgeries to remove.
While others of the 15 Izzy’s Place foster dogs require medical attention, Jack and Lizzie demand swift attention, said Shereen Raucci, who, with her husband Paul, started Izzy’s Place in November out of their Loveland home.
Sales of hot dogs and brats outside Hank’s yielded more than $500, and Shereen said more will be done to raise more.
The one-day fundraiser coincided with Hank’s one-year anniversary, a mark owners Teresa DeGuelle and Lisa Sauer are proud to reach, despite competition against big-box retailers such as PetSmart in east Loveland.
“It’s awesome,” DeGuelle said of running the duo’s first business, which sells natural pet foods and other products. “One of the best experiences is to get these dogs some exposure.”
While the original plan was for Fleming to give Jack a temporary home until Izzy’s Place found him a permanent family, Fleming’s attachment has grown too strong.
“I don’t think I can let him go,” she said, stroking the black and white hairs along his back.
And that’s why she’ll continue to fight to give him the best life possible for as long as possible.
