WHO WE ARE

Frank's view

I'm not sure why I'm always outside. The rain is cold and the mud always covers me. My
body hurts so much from this rope around me, there are spots bleeding. I don't
understand why they haven't changed the rope size. I'm a growing puppy just a few
months old. Don't they know I'm getting bigger? This lady that smells funny and is always
mad at me said today we have company, so to be a good boy. I'll do my best!
Oh, here they are! It's a lady, a man and a little person. I'm so excited! “Hi! Hello! Hello!
Hi!” *wags and wiggles like a worm fresh out of the ground from summer rain*
This new lady is so nice! She hasn't left my side all day and keeps fixing up my hurting
spots! I love her so much for helping my ouchies. She's my favorite person now. Wait....
They are all yelling now.... Even the new nice lady... this is kind of scary again. I don't even
have anywhere to hide...I'm just stuck on this rope. No.. no no! Don't go nice lady! Please
don't leave me!

...
It's the next day and the new man is still here but the nice lady is gone. I miss her. But
the man is nice too. He keeps coming out to say hello and check on my ouchies. He reminds
me of the nice lady, he even smells like her a bit, but he has the bad smell too. Yay! He's
going to take me on a walk! I love walks!
Oh my gosh! The nice lady! He walked me to the nice lady! “Hi! Hello! Hello! Hi!”
There's a dog here too! I'm so happy! I love these new people so much! They take me
everywhere and feed me so much more than the mean lady. My body doesn't hurt anymore
either! They took off the rope around my chest too!
*spends the next year going for walks in the redwoods and free runs along the Eureka
coast*
Life is so much better. I never have bloody spots anymore. I'm not tied up. I sleep next
to the nice lady every night. I get to play with the small person and my dog friend every
day. I just wish the man and lady wouldn't fight so much. Sometimes the man smells like
that mean lady used to...and he gets mean like her too.
Uh oh ... he smells like that now! And they are fighting again. I should go wherever the nice
lady goes. I don't want to leave her! Oh nooooo.... The man is throwing her around the
room. She's getting hurt. I Don't know what to do..... and now she left. Maybe she'll come
back soon.... I hope she's ok. Everything is so confusing.
The man keeps taking us to new places. I don't know these people or houses but I know the
man so I'll stay by him. He sometimes leaves though...I get really nervous when he does.
Oh oh.... That's not the man coming back. That's a person in a suit with a net and a rope
thing. I'm scared. Ahhhhh! He's got me! Nice lady where are you!? Help! Help!
Now I'm stuck in this loud, cold place with lots of other sad dogs. It smells funny but they
feed me and different people come to say hello.
Oh yay! The nice lady is here and she's ok! She was hurt and smells really sad. But I'm so
overjoyed to see her again! She finally came back for me!
Now I just live with the nice lady, my dog friend and the small person. Life is really good!
I go on walks on the beach and I get to talk to sea lions sometimes. Most of all I get to
sleep next to the nice lady again!
She is really sad alot though. The last few days she's done nothing but cry. She keeps
saying she loves me too. She gave me a nice egg sandwich this morning but she was crying
when she did. She also packed up all of my stuff. I'm a little confused. We're going for a
ride though, maybe to the beach!
Oh...this is odd.... It's the man. He doesn't smell bad though, and he's not being mean. He
is even being nice to my favorite person too. I guess he's ok. Hmmmm... odd.... He took all
my stuff and is taking me for a walk. He always did take me on good walks. This should be
ok.
It's been a while since I've seen the nice lady. The man started to smell bad again too.
But he takes me on lots of car rides and I get to meet new people a lot! I just wish my
favorite person was here. Oh well...

Uhoh.... It's the people in the suits again.... The ones that took me to the cold loud place!
Oh nooooo!
The cold loud place! Not again! But maybe the nice lady will come save me again!
I'll just wait here for her....
Wait, why are they holding me down?
Why do I feel funny?
Where is the nice lady?

..........

The Human Side...

My x was struggling with addiction. We didn't have the best situation going, but we were
trying and he was willing to get sober. The desire was there. We tried to move up north
for a change of life and it ended up being the same story in a different location. I met
Frank on Thanksgiving. My x had met some people, and we had been invited over for the
holiday. Little did I know the people were active drug users, my x likely knew but i was
unaware until the signs all pretended themselves. They also had sweet baby Frank tied up
outside, with sores on him from where the rope he was on had started to embed in his skin.
He was being severely neglected because the people there were on drugs. Once reality hit
me on what was going on there I got my son and myself OUT, but my x was a struggling
addict and failed to do the right thing. I fought him like no other to just leave and save
the darn dog! He did one of those i guess, he ended up doing a tattoo to trade for Frank the night he stayed there doing hell knows what.

​​

So we ended up getting Frank away from the horrible situation even though it all set my x back into bad habits. We tried to work things out and he did try to quit. Really did, but his struggles were too much. We got to a point where physical violence would happen when I would try to stop him. So I had to leave the relationship.
Realistically Frank was technically his and the abuse was bad enough that I left in a panic.
From what I gather, Frank eventually ended up in someone's back yard and was taken to a
shelter. The shelter called me as my info was attached to his chip. I got my Franky back
that same day they called. After some time my x ended up finding me though, and had convinced me he was better. He swore he was off drugs and was able to care for Frank the right way. So I agreed he could have him back. But made him promise to let me know if he got bad again and if Frank needed me, because I'd come. He agreed.

​

Months later he did call me to come get Frank, the day before he got arrested. But he disappeared without more info after first asking. Turns out he was arrested in an entirely different state, and Frank was in the car with him when he got pulled over. The shelter in AZ reached out to the chip company, but the chip company somehow didn't have my info and had 2 different accounts for me. Even though the last time I was contacted, no worries.... Frank was put down before I ever knew he was at any shelter. I had to Google my x to find him in jail and then track down Frank after going in circles. I was about 3 months behind making any
difference. A sherif for the shelter even had the nerve to tell me while in the tornado of my search, "yeah that dog was here, but he was owned by some lady in a different state" I AM THAT LADY!! They knew and didn't contact me. I failed Frank multiple times. First when I trusted my x to take him back, and second when I didn't track him down the day my x disappeared.

 My gut said to find him and I didn't do it.

This story has bits of domestic violence and drugs that I wish weren't there, but reality is
like that sometimes. There's also aspects of clerical failure. The chip company having
multiple erroneous records is the big puzzle piece that failed Frank. If the shelter was
able to contact me I would have been there in a grasshopper's step. I still want more info
on how that error occurred, if it was just another failure by me or some flaw in the chip
record system. Take my failures as examples to avoid for yourself.

I am starting Frank's Family Dog Rescue and Rehab to try to give back to dogs in a way
that I failed Frank. I want to show up to the ones on the euthanasia list and get them
somewhere safe. I want to help the dogs that don't deserve what they are going through.
I owe the rest of my life to dogs like Frank that didn't get to live theirs.