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

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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 stereot

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(00:27):
I hope you enjoy this episodeand I can't wait to share this
pet story with you.
So Rebecca came to me knowing Ihave a pet pod and, for me,
I've learned so much doing thispodcast, and one of the things
I've learned is so many animalsend up in shelters because

(00:51):
people have passed away orpeople have gotten sick, gone
into hospital or assisted livingand they didn't have a plan in
place to take care of their pets.
So this was something Rebeccathought.
Hey, I could talk a little bitabout this.
First of all, have you alwaysbeen a pet person?

Speaker 2 (01:08):
No.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
And that's okay we accept all here.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
I am being very honest.
No, we had pets when I wasgrowing up All the dogs that
we've ever owned with me and myhusband.
Only one of them was mine.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
And was that yours, in terms of you decided to get a
pet, or was that someone gotyou a pet?

Speaker 2 (01:35):
It was mine.
I chose a little miniaturepincher, I chose a Min Pin.
I picked it out, I bought it.
I bought it, I brought it homeand she was mine.
She was my pet.
I was her person, because anypet owner knows what that means.

(01:57):
Yes, I was her person andthat's the only pet that I can
say that I've ever had in myentire life.
That was mine and, honestly, ifI could choose a pet now that I
wanted, I think I would be acat person and not a dog person.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
I love how your voice got quiet.
I hope no one's really hearingme say that I think I'd be a cat
person.
I can say that I totallyunderstand, because I grew up
with only dogs, loved dogs,obsessed with dogs, loved Lady
and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatiansall those things.
I was always that girl.
Then, as an adult, one of myfriends had gotten cats and I'm
like ooh, okay, so I got akitten and I'm like I actually

(02:46):
think I'm a cat person.
They like to sleep and takenaps and have treats.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
It's my people.
Cats are so independent.
I think that's why I love cats.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Dogs are very needy and I'm not a needy person and I
don't necessarily like veryneedy people one thing we always
say in this podcast and petpeople who, whatever you are,
whatever pet you love, thatright pets find you, because we
all have different needs andwants.
I've had cats that have been onthe more needy side.

(03:13):
I've had other cats that arelike I will come see you when
I'm hungry, otherwise leave mealone.
You know it.
They have personalities, butyour husband had always had dogs
.
Was he a big?

Speaker 2 (03:25):
dog person.
Oh my god, he was a huge dogperson.
He loved dogs he's I.
I've seen pictures of him as ayoung adult and, I think, all
throughout his life.
I could go through all of hispictures and pull out all the
dogs that he's ever owned and hehas always had a dog Always.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
I'm one of the people that.
I don't know how you could nothave a pet, so I get that.
But you know everybody doeswhat's right for them.
So when your husband passedaway, you were left with his
dogs.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yes, we actually had three dogs.
One dog I left in Kentucky.
Two of the dogs were alreadyhere in North Carolina because
we were in the process of movingfrom Kentucky back home to
North Carolina.
So two were already here.
One was in Kentucky and she wasstill a puppy, and well, not

(04:28):
really a puppy, I don't know.
Maybe six months, she was lessthan a year old.
Yeah, anything less than a yearis a puppy.
Okay, she was less than a yearold, she wasn't trained very
well and she was extremely hyperand I could not control her,
sorry, you're hearing my dogbark in the?

(04:50):
Background you didn't.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Oh, trust me, We've heard a lot of that on this
podcast.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Okay, it's a pet podcast.
My dog is barking in thebackground and I don't know why.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
As always, our pets like to interrupt and say hi
when we're recording.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
The blind was open, so maybe he saw something you
know what you're saying about apuppy is totally understandable.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Sometimes, you know, puppies are a lot of work, a lot
of training, a lot of energyand unfortunately that's why a
lot of dogs sometimes getreturned to rescues and shelters
, because people don't realizethe amount of time and work you
have to put in when you have apuppy.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah, so luckily, one of his friends came by the
house and took the dog with himand he had her for the entire
time that we were there playingin the funeral and going through
it.
In two weeks went by and I waslike, do you want her?
And he's, I would love to haveher.

(05:48):
And I'm like, okay, you canhave her.
I'm like, do you want thepapers and everything.
I just I can't keep her, Ican't take her.
I had two dogs at home and I soI left her there.
And at home we had two dogs.
We had Vegas, which is an oldEnglish bulldog.

(06:09):
Tom got Vegas.
We got him from Vegas.
Las Vegas, there you go.
We got Vegas from Vegas and Tomtried to disguise this cute
puppy as a birthday present tome.

(06:30):
It was not a birthday present tome, I did not want a dog, but
that was his sneaky way oftrying to get a dog.
And then he takes me to see allthese little puppies, these
sweet, beautiful little oldEnglish bulldog puppies.
And here's the funny thing hewent specifically for this one

(06:55):
puppy that he saw.
This is how I know.
It was not a birthday presentfor me.
We went specifically to see onepuppy out of the litter that he
liked.
That puppy did not like us atall.
It wouldn't stay in our arms.
It kicked, it did everything toget out.
The puppy wouldn't come near us.

(07:16):
But Vegas, my man, vegas, he wasup 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 methese kisses and I kept telling

(07:41):
my husband.
I said, tom, that dog does notlike you.
And he goes this is the dogwe're getting, and I'm like.
I thought it was my birthdaypresent.
I thought we was here to get mea dog for my birthday.
And then, finally, he gave inbecause he realized that none of
them other dogs wanted anythingto do with us but Vegas.

(08:02):
None of them other dogs wantedanything to do with us but Vegas
.
He chose us.
We brought Vegas home and he'sa really good dog, very needy,
but other than that he'sextremely smart and very well
trained.
You can't really ask for abetter dog, and everybody loves
him.
Those are the best dogs.

(08:22):
Yes, now the other dog,caroline.
Her name is supposed to beCarolina because she's from
North Carolina, but Carolina istoo many syllables when you're
trying to train Yell at the dog.
I wasn't going to say yell atthe dog, but you're right, we
know we get it.
So Carolina was too manysyllables, so we call her

(08:44):
Caroline.
She is our discount puppy, andthis is how my husband's
obsessions with dogs are in hislong line of dogs.
So he was a dog man, brotherwas a dog man and you know,
their dog of choice was pitbulls.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Right, they're pit bull men, and so you know the
funny thing about that is youthink, oh yeah, they want the
tough, they want the pit bullsare the biggest babies and pit
bulls I've known are just lovebugs they are, they just look
vicious.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
So apparently some years back my husband had this
dog.
He gave the dog to my brotherand my brother said whenever I
breed him and have puppies Iwill give you a puppy.
So this went on for years, backand forth, no puppy.

(09:43):
So finally my brother has somepuppies and then I'm here
visiting and Tom says go get mea puppy.
And I'm like, excuse me, hesaid go get me a puppy.

(10:07):
And so me and my son go over tomy brother's house and we go
outside and there's only fourpuppies left out of this litter.
And my brother picks up thispuppy and the puppy's leg looks
broken.
It's got popsicle sticks aroundit 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 aslick bro.
He said no, it's not broke, hejust got it caught in the fence
and he was limping on it.
So I just put some popsiclesticks.
He said you might want to takeit to the vet.

(10:47):
And I was like and I said,donnie, I don't want this puppy.
He said do you want me to tellTom I sold it to someone else?
And I said I know, becausehe'll get mad and my son is
looking at me.
He said Mom, you got to takethat puppy.
That puppy needs to go to thedoctor.

(11:09):
Yeah, so I felt so bad for thispuppy.
I take the puppy home.
I get to my mom's house, wegive it a bath and everything,
and so she's taking the littlepopsicle sticks off.
She goes.
I don't think there's anythingwrong with this puppy's legs.
So the puppy's walking around,it's limping a little.

(11:30):
How about my brother bandagedit up the wrong leg?

Speaker 1 (11:39):
oh, I know he pulled one of these.
I'll just put popsicle soup onthis.
So here I am with thisbroke-ass puppy even animals
with disabilities are amazing,but I can just picture the poor
little puppy with the popsiclestick and I have a nine hour

(12:03):
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 Ihave 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'twant her, but I am now her
person.
It was, I was by no choice.
I became her person, and so nowwe have these two dogs that my

(12:39):
husband promises that he's goingto help train.
I train the dogs, I do thefeeding, I do the cleaning, I do
the training, but he gets theprivilege, like the good dad yes
, the good dad that these arehis dogs this is why my husband
won't let me have a dog, becausehe knows, this is what, what I

(13:02):
don't know.
Take care of them, I promisefast forward a few years later
and my husband dies.
So now I am stuck with thesedogs.
Of course, I have been livingwith 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 ofthem?
Absolutely not.
I do love them.
Do I necessarily want a lifewith pets?
Not really, because I like totravel and pets cause certain

(13:50):
restrictions, and then they'realso 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 mydogs.
They are her baby and she makesthem fat from treats and she

(14:13):
takes care of them and she lovesthem and they love her way more
than me, because you know Ifeel 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 ofa 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 theysee me and her husband, her kids
, will always say they never actlike that when we come home
what kind of treats are yougiving 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 saidwith your long car trip.
You just bond in a differentway than when it's just your
normal busy family life, youknow, yes, so I've spent weeks
with them.
So I am their auntie and theylove me.
They love their family too, butI get what you're saying.

(15:11):
With your mom, they know her,they know she's the treat lady
and they're going to, she'sgoing to spoil them whenever
they're with.
Yes, so I think this is a goodexample of your husband's
passing was not expected.
It wasn't something you hadplanned for.
Obviously, you have these petsthat, like you said, they were
really more his in a way, butyou took care of them.

(15:33):
You're not going to get rid ofthem.
They mean something to you.
But I think this is a goodexample of something like this
can happen to someone, to afamily, to a couple.
And then what happens to thepets?
So I think this is definitelyan important thing to talk about
in terms of how do you planahead for something like that?
And now for you, you haverecently learned that your

(15:56):
cancer metastasized, so yourlife plan is a little different
now.
So I'm sure you've thought ofwhat if something happens to me?
What happens to the dogs?
I'm sure that's come throughyour head.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
So yeah, I'm really worried about what happens to
the dogs.
And here's the thing Vegas iseveryone'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 getused to someone, but when she

(16:29):
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 theback of the kennel.
Or people see a pit bull andthey just won't even, you know,
entertain the idea.
And that's when something likethis happens and a dog ends up
in a shelter.
They don't understand what'shappened.
They've lived in a house theirwhole life and I'm sure you

(16:52):
maybe even saw it when you lostyour 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 myhusband from a Marco Polo app
that we used to talk back andforth to each other.
I can play his voice and Vegasstill recognizes it.
Caroline not so much, but Vegas, if I play it you can tell he

(17:21):
recognizes Tom's voice.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah.
So I think it's something wehave to think about with our
pets, not only if someone inyour family you know, with
divorce, they lose a parent orthere's a death, animals grieve.
Divorce, they lose a parent orthere's a death, animals grieve.
I've seen, I've seen animalsand shelters completely broken
down because they've had aparent for 10, 15 years down
there in the scary place andit's just so hard and it's so

(17:45):
hard to see them that way thatyou have to not only realize
your pets are going to grieve,but you have to think about what
happens if something happens toyou.
Who's going to take care ofthem?

Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, so for me, when something happens to me, both
of my dogs will go to my mom andthen if something happens to my
mom, then my son will have totake both of the dogs.
I don't know that he would wantto take both.
He may only want to take one.

(18:16):
So that might be something Ihave to discuss.
But Vegas is going on nineyears old, so who knows, maybe
Vegas might pass away before Ido and that might not end up
being an issue.
But that is the way that Iwould like for it to go and I
would hope it would go.

(18:37):
But luckily I think I haveplenty of family and friends
that would be willing to takeany of the dogs.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
And that's great and it's something you're aware of,
probably because you'veexperienced the loss and know
you have to think about thesethings.
So you're talking about it withpeople, but I think so many
times you don't even think aboutit and life happens, just like
with what happened with losingyour husband.
You didn't expect it and thathappens if you haven't talked
about it or thought about it ortalked to someone about it.

(19:06):
And it's totally different thanhuman kids, but they are your
kids, they are your family.
We're talking about thisbecause we want listeners to
think who would take my cats ormy dogs or my bird or whatever
it is, if something happened tome or even if, god forbid, you
have to have surgery and you'rein the hospital for a week?
There are those situations thatyou want to make sure your pets

(19:27):
are taken care of.
Yeah, absolutely, it's soimportant.
Oh my gosh, I'm going to havethat image of the little pit
bull puppy with the popsiclesticks 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 arescue 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 thedogs from breeders who maybe
have an issue end up in shelters.
So we see that and those dogssometimes, oftentimes, are the
very best dogs.
We advocate for rescue here andadopting from shelters.
But, oh my gosh, I'm going tohave that image in my head.

(20:05):
I'm going to see if I can finda picture.
Oh, I might have a picture.
Thank you, rebecca, for sharingyour story and talking openly
about the importance of makingplans for your pets, because of
your own experience and justwhat's going on in your life and
continues to happen.
Because it's important forpeople to hear this and just be
aware you want to make sure, nomatter what, your pets are taken

(20:26):
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 myPet podcast.
I hope you were inspired andtouched by this amazing pet
story and I hope you come backto listen to more episodes soon.
Make sure you don't miss anynew episodes by clicking
subscribe wherever you arelistening to this podcast right

(21:00):
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(21:21):
Thank you so much for beinghere and much love to you and
your pets.