Securing a Future for Our Fur Families: Planning for Our Pet's Care

Taking care of our pets is something most pet parents take great pride in; however, we don’t always plan for the “what if’s”. Thinking about what would happen to our pets if we were no longer able to care for them is SO important. Yet, no one wants to think about death and dying, but if something happened to you and you were in the hospital or worse, who will care for your pets? I, Julie Marty-Pearson, dive into this topic with my friend, fellow podcaster, and Fur Mom Rebecca Johnson.

Rebecca shares her heartfelt journey through the loss of her husband and the subsequent intertwining of joy and challenge with her canine companions mirrors the complex bond we all share with our pets. As we unraveled Rebecca's story, we were reminded of the individual personalities pets have, how they align with ours, and the importance of cherishing these connections, especially during life's unexpected turns.
 
This episode transcends mere pet tales, touching upon the profound topic of pet contingency planning, a subject close to Rebecca’s heart given her own battle with cancer. She opens up about her own arrangements for her dogs, Vegas and Caroline, fostering an important conversation about securing our pets' futures. We advocate for recognizing the value of rescue animals as integral parts of our families, hoping to inspire listeners to consider the well-being of their four-legged friends in times of change. Rebecca's experiences, combined with my personal insights, underscore the emotional depths of our pets and the need for thoughtful stewardship of their lives when they too face loss and upheaval.

Rebecca Johnson is the vibrant voice behind 'Love is Not Dead, Just My Husband,' a podcast crafted to uplift and empower widows on their unique paths of healing and rediscovery. As a widow herself, Rebecca has faced some of life's toughest challenges with unwavering resilience, including overcoming multiple losses and living with an incurable cancer. Through her podcast, Rebecca weaves personal triumphs with heartfelt stories, diving into the transformative journey of widowhood finding joy in life and loss. With her infectious 'Widow Your Way' attitude, she breaks down stereotypes and offers a welcoming space for widows to find comfort, strength, and i

Chapters

• 0:05 Pet Stories and Animal Advocacy
• 14:29 Planning for Pets in Life Changes

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Hello, my friends and fellow animal lovers, welcome to the Story of my Pet podcast. I am Julie Marty Pearson, your host, proud fur mom, pet lover and all-around animal advocate. I'm so happy to have you here to listen to the incredible pet stories that I have collected from around the world. I hope you enjoy this episode and I can't wait to share this pet story with you. So Rebecca came to me knowing I have a pet pod and, for me, I've learned so much doing this podcast, and one of the things I've learned is so many animals end up in shelters because people have passed away or people have gotten sick, gone into hospital or assisted living and they didn't have a plan in place to take care of their pets. So this was something Rebecca thought. Hey, I could talk a little bit about this. First of all, have you always been a pet person?

Speaker 2: 1:08

No.

Speaker 1: 1:11

And that's okay we accept all here.

Speaker 2: 1:13

I am being very honest. No, we had pets when I was growing up All the dogs that we've ever owned with me and my husband. Only one of them was mine.

Speaker 1: 1:30

And was that yours, in terms of you decided to get a pet, or was that someone got you a pet?

Speaker 2: 1:35

It was mine. I chose a little miniature pincher, I chose a Min Pin. I picked it out, I bought it. I bought it, I brought it home and she was mine. She was my pet. I was her person, because any pet owner knows what that means. Yes, I was her person and that's the only pet that I can say that I've ever had in my entire life. That was mine and, honestly, if I could choose a pet now that I wanted, I think I would be a cat person and not a dog person.

Speaker 1: 2:20

I love how your voice got quiet. I hope no one's really hearing me say that I think I'd be a cat person. I can say that I totally understand, because I grew up with only dogs, loved dogs, obsessed with dogs, loved Lady and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatians all those things. I was always that girl. Then, as an adult, one of my friends had gotten cats and I'm like ooh, okay, so I got a kitten and I'm like I actually think I'm a cat person. They like to sleep and take naps and have treats.

Speaker 2: 2:48

It's my people. Cats are so independent. I think that's why I love cats.

Speaker 1: 2:53

Dogs are very needy and I'm not a needy person and I don't necessarily like very needy people one thing we always say in this podcast and pet people who, whatever you are, whatever pet you love, that right pets find you, because we all have different needs and wants. I've had cats that have been on the more needy side. I've had other cats that are like I will come see you when I'm hungry, otherwise leave me alone. You know it. They have personalities, but your husband had always had dogs. Was he a big?

Speaker 2: 3:25

dog person. Oh my god, he was a huge dog person. He loved dogs he's I. I've seen pictures of him as a young adult and, I think, all throughout his life. I could go through all of his pictures and pull out all the dogs that he's ever owned and he has always had a dog Always.

Speaker 1: 3:50

I'm one of the people that. I don't know how you could not have a pet, so I get that. But you know everybody does what's right for them. So when your husband passed away, you were left with his dogs.

Speaker 2: 4:03

Yes, we actually had three dogs. One dog I left in Kentucky. Two of the dogs were already here in North Carolina because we were in the process of moving from Kentucky back home to North Carolina. So two were already here. One was in Kentucky and she was still a puppy, and well, not really a puppy, I don't know. Maybe six months, she was less than a year old.

Speaker 2: 4:33

Yeah, anything less than a year is a puppy. Okay, she was less than a year old, she wasn't trained very well and she was extremely hyper and I could not control her, sorry, you're hearing my dog bark in the? Background you didn't.

Speaker 1: 4:51

Oh, trust me, We've heard a lot of that on this podcast.

Speaker 2: 4:53

Okay, it's a pet podcast. My dog is barking in the background and I don't know why.

Speaker 1: 4:59

As always, our pets like to interrupt and say hi when we're recording.

Speaker 2: 5:05

The blind was open, so maybe he saw something you know what you're saying about a puppy is totally understandable.

Speaker 1: 5:11

Sometimes, you know, puppies are a lot of work, a lot of training, a lot of energy and unfortunately that's why a lot of dogs sometimes get returned to rescues and shelters, because people don't realize the amount of time and work you have to put in when you have a puppy.

Speaker 2: 5:26

Yeah, so luckily, one of his friends came by the house and took the dog with him and he had her for the entire time that we were there playing in the funeral and going through it. In two weeks went by and I was like, do you want her? And he's, I would love to have her. And I'm like, okay, you can have her. I'm like, do you want the papers and everything. I just I can't keep her, I can't take her. I had two dogs at home and I so I left her there. And at home we had two dogs. We had Vegas, which is an old English bulldog. Tom got Vegas. We got him from Vegas. Las Vegas, there you go. We got Vegas from Vegas and Tom tried to disguise this cute puppy as a birthday present to me.

Speaker 2: 6:30

It was not a birthday present to me, I did not want a dog, but that was his sneaky way of trying to get a dog. And then he takes me to see all these little puppies, these sweet, beautiful little old English bulldog puppies. And here's the funny thing he went specifically for this one puppy that he saw. This is how I know. It was not a birthday present for me. We went specifically to see one puppy out of the litter that he liked. That puppy did not like us at all. It wouldn't stay in our arms. It kicked, it did everything to get out. The puppy wouldn't come near us.

Speaker 2: 7:16

But Vegas, my man, vegas, he was up on the side of the box like, hey, look at me, I'm cute, don't you want to pet me? I picked him up. That dog did not leave my lap, he was all over me, he was licking me, he was giving me these kisses and I kept telling my husband. I said, tom, that dog does not like you. And he goes this is the dog we're getting, and I'm like. I thought it was my birthday present. I thought we was here to get me a dog for my birthday.

Speaker 2: 7:54

And then, finally, he gave in because he realized that none of them other dogs wanted anything to do with us but Vegas. None of them other dogs wanted anything to do with us but Vegas. He chose us. We brought Vegas home and he's a really good dog, very needy, but other than that he's extremely smart and very well trained. You can't really ask for a better dog, and everybody loves him. Those are the best dogs. Yes, now the other dog, caroline. Her name is supposed to be Carolina because she's from North Carolina, but Carolina is too many syllables when you're trying to train Yell at the dog.

Speaker 2: 8:36

I wasn't going to say yell at the dog, but you're right, we know we get it. So Carolina was too many syllables, so we call her Caroline. She is our discount puppy, and this is how my husband's obsessions with dogs are in his long line of dogs. So he was a dog man, brother was a dog man and you know, their dog of choice was pit bulls.

Speaker 1: 9:05

Right, they're pit bull men, and so you know the funny thing about that is you think, oh yeah, they want the tough, they want the pit bulls are the biggest babies and pit bulls I've known are just love bugs they are, they just look vicious.

Speaker 2: 9:20

So apparently some years back my husband had this dog. He gave the dog to my brother and my brother said whenever I breed him and have puppies I will give you a puppy. So this went on for years, back and forth, no puppy. So finally my brother has some puppies and then I'm here visiting and Tom says go get me a puppy. And I'm like, excuse me, he said go get me a puppy. And so me and my son go over to my brother's house and we go outside and there's only four puppies left out of this litter. And my brother picks up this puppy and the puppy's leg looks broken. It's got popsicle sticks around it with some tape and I'm like what?

Speaker 1: 10:25

Oh no.

Speaker 2: 10:26

He said here's your puppy. And I said what's wrong with it? I said it's a puppy, it's a slick bro. He said no, it's not broke, he just got it caught in the fence and he was limping on it. So I just put some popsicle sticks. He said you might want to take it to the vet. And I was like and I said, donnie, I don't want this puppy. He said do you want me to tell Tom I sold it to someone else? And I said I know, because he'll get mad and my son is looking at me. He said Mom, you got to take that puppy. That puppy needs to go to the doctor. Yeah, so I felt so bad for this puppy. I take the puppy home. I get to my mom's house, we give it a bath and everything, and so she's taking the little popsicle sticks off. She goes. I don't think there's anything wrong with this puppy's legs. So the puppy's walking around, it's limping a little. How about my brother bandaged it up the wrong leg?

Speaker 1: 11:39

oh, I know he pulled one of these. I'll just put popsicle soup on this. So here I am with this broke-ass puppy even animals with disabilities are amazing, but I can just picture the poor little puppy with the popsicle stick and I have a nine hour drive to kentucky.

Speaker 2: 12:05

So now I have a nine hour drive to kentucky with a puppy and how many times do I have to stop for this puppy to use the bathroom?

Speaker 1: 12:14

50 million times.

Speaker 2: 12:16

It took me 12 hours to get home and through this we bonded and I became her person. At this point I still don't want her, but I am now her person. It was, I was by no choice. I became her person, and so now we have these two dogs that my husband promises that he's going to help train. I train the dogs, I do the feeding, I do the cleaning, I do the training, but he gets the privilege, like the good dad yes, the good dad that these are his dogs this is why my husband won't let me have a dog, because he knows, this is what, what I don't know.

Speaker 2: 13:03

Take care of them, I promise fast forward a few years later and my husband dies. So now I am stuck with these dogs. Of course, I have been living with them and raising them the entire time.

Speaker 1: 13:22

You are attached to them.

Speaker 2: 13:24

Yes, but now they are 100% mine, 100% mine. Now am I going to get rid of them? Absolutely not. I do love them. Do I necessarily want a life with pets? Not really, because I like to travel and pets cause certain restrictions, and then they're also big pets and then one is a pit bull, you know. So it's boarding is an issue, pet sitters is an issue, things like that. But luckily, my mom loves my dogs. They are her baby and she makes them fat from treats and she takes care of them and she loves them and they love her way more than me, because you know I feel like animals love the person who feeds them.

Speaker 1: 14:26

Oh, yeah, that's how I feel. I am a proud auntie to many of a dog that I dog sit for. And oh, let me tell you, whenever I there's a pair of one of my really good friends, whenever I go to their house, they lose their minds when they see me and her husband, her kids, will always say they never act like that when we come home what kind of treats are you giving them?

Speaker 2: 14:47

you must be giving them real bacon actually not.

Speaker 1: 14:51

It's just you know, when you're a dog sitter, and it's just you and them. It's's that same, like you said with your long car trip. You just bond in a different way than when it's just your normal busy family life, you know, yes, so I've spent weeks with them. So I am their auntie and they love me.

Speaker 1: 15:08

They love their family too, but I get what you're saying. With your mom, they know her, they know she's the treat lady and they're going to, she's going to spoil them whenever they're with. Yes, so I think this is a good example of your husband's passing was not expected. It wasn't something you had planned for. Obviously, you have these pets that, like you said, they were really more his in a way, but you took care of them. You're not going to get rid of them. They mean something to you. But I think this is a good example of something like this can happen to someone, to a family, to a couple. And then what happens to the pets? So I think this is definitely an important thing to talk about in terms of how do you plan ahead for something like that? And now for you, you have recently learned that your cancer metastasized, so your life plan is a little different now. So I'm sure you've thought of what if something happens to me? What happens to the dogs? I'm sure that's come through your head.

Speaker 2: 16:09

So yeah, I'm really worried about what happens to the dogs. And here's the thing Vegas is everyone's favorite. He is he's the cuddle bug. He's everyone's favorite. Caroline the pit bull. She is scared of everyone. She barks at everyone. It takes her a long time to get used to someone, but when she does, she is very loving.

Speaker 1: 16:32

And those are the dogs. When they end up in a shelter, they just break down and they're the ones that are hiding in the back of the kennel. Or people see a pit bull and they just won't even, you know, entertain the idea. And that's when something like this happens and a dog ends up in a shelter. They don't understand what's happened. They've lived in a house their whole life and I'm sure you maybe even saw it when you lost your husband that they probably grieved him, like where is he? Why isn't he coming home?

Speaker 2: 16:59

You, know animals go through that too. Vegas. So I have these videos of my husband from a Marco Polo app that we used to talk back and forth to each other. I can play his voice and Vegas still recognizes it. Caroline not so much, but Vegas, if I play it you can tell he recognizes Tom's voice.

Speaker 1: 17:24

Yeah. So I think it's something we have to think about with our pets, not only if someone in your family you know, with divorce, they lose a parent or there's a death, animals grieve. Divorce, they lose a parent or there's a death, animals grieve. I've seen, I've seen animals and shelters completely broken down because they've had a parent for 10, 15 years down there in the scary place and it's just so hard and it's so hard to see them that way that you have to not only realize your pets are going to grieve, but you have to think about what happens if something happens to you. Who's going to take care of them?

Speaker 2: 17:56

Yeah, so for me, when something happens to me, both of my dogs will go to my mom and then if something happens to my mom, then my son will have to take both of the dogs. I don't know that he would want to take both. He may only want to take one. So that might be something I have to discuss. But Vegas is going on nine years old, so who knows, maybe Vegas might pass away before I do and that might not end up being an issue. But that is the way that I would like for it to go and I would hope it would go. But luckily I think I have plenty of family and friends that would be willing to take any of the dogs.

Speaker 1: 18:45

And that's great and it's something you're aware of, probably because you've experienced the loss and know you have to think about these things. So you're talking about it with people, but I think so many times you don't even think about it and life happens, just like with what happened with losing your husband. You didn't expect it and that happens if you haven't talked about it or thought about it or talked to someone about it. And it's totally different than human kids, but they are your kids, they are your family. We're talking about this because we want listeners to think who would take my cats or my dogs or my bird or whatever it is, if something happened to me or even if, god forbid, you have to have surgery and you're in the hospital for a week? There are those situations that you want to make sure your pets are taken care of. Yeah, absolutely, it's so important. Oh my gosh, I'm going to have that image of the little pit bull puppy with the popsicle sticks on his leg and my head for a while.

Speaker 2: 19:40

Carolina's our clearance puppy.

Speaker 1: 19:42

That's what we call her and as we say on this show, there's nothing better than a rescue dog, what we call her, and as we say on this show, there's nothing better than a rescue dog. And unfortunately, a lot of the dogs from breeders who maybe have an issue end up in shelters. So we see that and those dogs sometimes, oftentimes, are the very best dogs. We advocate for rescue here and adopting from shelters. But, oh my gosh, I'm going to have that image in my head. I'm going to see if I can find a picture. Oh, I might have a picture.

Speaker 1: 20:10

Thank you, rebecca, for sharing your story and talking openly about the importance of making plans for your pets, because of your own experience and just what's going on in your life and continues to happen. Because it's important for people to hear this and just be aware you want to make sure, no matter what, your pets are taken care of.

Speaker 2: 20:32

Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1: 20:37

Thank you, my friend, for being here and listening to this episode of the Story of my Pet podcast. I hope you were inspired and touched by this amazing pet story and I hope you come back to listen to more episodes soon. Make sure you don't miss any new episodes by clicking subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast right now. Want to help the podcast grow? Then hit rating and review wherever you are listening to this podcast. Every review helps get the podcast in front of more people and heard by more listeners, so that the podcast can inspire more people to rescue, foster and adopt animals in need today. Thank you so much for being here and much love to you and your pets.