Gavin was getting a PET scan in December 2025. At the same time, I was across town talking to a veterinarian about our dog, Leia. She was really sick. It happened quickly. And I had to make the decision to put her to sleep. By myself. My husband was recently diagnosed with cancer, and he was getting his body looked at to see where the cancer cells were hiding.
To say it was the worst day is an understatement.
I was devastated. And yet. I knew Leia’s release was timely. Gavin nearly died two months later.
There was no way I could have taken care of anyone or anything else while supporting Gavin.
So when he said to me one afternoon in February that he wanted to pick out another dog, I thought he was nuts.
He didn’t back down. And I didn’t have the strength to argue.
He wanted a bloodhound. I had a bloodhound in 2012. My sister has two. Gavin was under the impression he was going to die, and he wanted to make sure I’d have a bigass dog to love on after he was gone.
We put down a deposit on a new bloodhound litter. Gavin was very specific about what he wanted. And I was in such a fog, I was just going along with it.
The week after Gavin got out of the hospital, he wanted to go pick out our new dog. Gavin could barely walk. His neck wound was still nasty. And he was still in treatment. But he wanted to make sure we had the puppy he wanted.
We sat down and this little itty bitty bloodhound crawled right into Gavin’s lap and fell asleep. Huckleberry picked Gavin.
He named him and went back to our bubble of cancer and caregiving.
Huckleberry came home with us in May 2024 at 12 weeks. I was deep in brain fog and caregiving trauma. And had to train a puppy while my husband stayed focused on healing himself. It was not the easiest time.
When we first brought him home, he wasn’t big enough to eat out of his dog bowl. But I knew how big he was going to get and didn’t want to buy a puppy bowl when he’d outgrow it in a week. A week later, he was twice the size and hasn’t really stopped growing.
Fast forward to February 2026. Huckleberry is two years old and a huge part of our lives.
His favorite toy is a blue crinkle and crunch Nerf Dog ball. I have them on subscription! He gets one every week because he destroys it in six hours.
He loves the water and playing in the lake with Gavin!
Happy Birthday to Mr. Berry!
Dogs are great and so very healing. There is such a thing as dog therapy! Huck is ours!
We hope you’re having a great year.
Xx
Carrie
