Owen & Mark

Jan. 10, 2021

Owen is our first Golden Retriever, he came to us with some very unique quirks and a whole lot of personality. He was described by his first foster parent as “Devil Dog” because as a young puppy he would frequently get into trouble and “was always able to find my charging cords to chew on and destroy”. However after some time with our Founder, he was sent to live with Mark and his family in sunny Napa, California and what was only supposed to be a temporary arrangement turned into a full time foster placement.

At the time of placement we did not know that Owen and Mark would become beyond buddies, during the course of Owens regular training and foster term he brought joy and happiness to Mark and his family. Later, after some discussion with Mark’s family, it was clear that Mark would potentially qualify to receive Owen as his own service dog. Our team quickly got to work looking into how we could make it happen.

Mark had been dealing with the impacts of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) for sometime when Owen joined his family as a foster puppy. Aside from the physical difficulties brought on by COPD, Mark was also confronted by the accompanying emotional impacts of diminished physical capacity brought on by chronic conditions. Things like depression and loneliness are common in these kinds of situations and we were determined to help in whatever way we could.

Mark’s family had told us that they were seeing positive changes for Mark that were directly related to Owen’s presence in the home. He was happier and more upbeat. He would talk to Owen throughout the day, they became inseparable and it was clear that Owen was helping Mark feel better from day to day. This dog’s presence and companionship brought on smiles, his antics and the same quirks we thought would be problematic, were his most endearing qualities. After some digging and research we found a $3,000 grant from a private family foundation to cover the cost of placing Owen with Mark permanently and we did just that.

In May of this year we were saddened to hear that Mark passed away and while we will not know the full measure and value of Owen to Mark, we are glad to share the Owen is staying with Mark’s family FURever.