Phải mất một ngôi làng để cho một những ngày cuối cùng tốt nhất của cuộc đời, nhưng công việc không phải lúc nào cũng buồn như vẻ ngoài của nó. Đôi khi, cộng đồng của một chú chó bị bệnh nan y đến với nhau để tạo ra một khoảnh khắc tràn ngập niềm vui đến nỗi mọi khó khăn tạm thời bị lãng quên và điều duy nhất còn lại là nụ cười tai đối tai trên khuôn mặt của chú chó con.
Đó chính xác là những gì đã xảy ra khi Jenny Leech, một bà mẹ nuôi cuối đời có kinh nghiệm, nhận thấy rằng người nuôi dưỡng mới nhất của cô, Huxley, bị ám ảnh bởi những quả bóng tennis. Những gì bắt đầu như một nhiệm vụ nhỏ để thu thập đồ chơi yêu thích của Huxley đã trở thành bất ngờ hạnh phúc nhất từ trước đến nay đối với một chú chó con gần đây đã trải qua rất nhiều nỗi buồn.
Before Huxley came into Leech’s care, he lived on a farm with his elderly owner. When his owner passed away, family members surrendered Huxley to BAARK Dog Rescue.
After clearing Huxley for foster care, a volunteer for BAARK posted his picture online with a description that read: “Huxley doesn’t see or hear too well and moves slowly,” noting that he only had three legs as a result of an accident he’d survived as a puppy.
Leech caught wind of the post and instantly fell in love with the gray-muzzled dog, despite his condition. “[The rescue] said, ‘He looks like he’s in really bad shape,’” Leech told The Dodo. “I said, ‘He’s perfect.’”
Leech welcomed Huxley into her home just a few days after seeing the post and quickly learned that he was even sicker than she’d expected. Additional tests confirmed her fears that Huxley was suffering from lung cancer.
As soon as he was diagnosed with cancer, Leech made sure that his everyday life was as comfortable as possible. She expected him to be slowed down by his arthritis, but, to her surprise, Huxley’s puppy spirit grew stronger every day.
Then one day, Huxley laid eyes on a tennis ball, and his puppy energy overflowed.
Huxley’s obsession with tennis balls was discovered “kind of by accident,” Leech said, after her toddler grandson accidentally initiated a game of fetch with him. “[My grandson] found a tennis ball, and Huxley immediately just took to it,” Leech said. “I don’t know if he had ever played fetch, but we [could see] how much he was loving it.”
After realizing that Huxley’s demeanor became more puppy-like the second he laid eyes on a single tennis ball, Leech reached out to her local racket club to see if they would donate a few more for him.
Not only was the racket club more than happy to gather up a bunch of tennis balls for Huxley, but they also went out of their way to make the moment extra special for him, too.
“The person who arranged it took her lunch hour to gather all of the tennis balls around the club and put them on the lawn just for him,” Leech said.
When Leech and her family arrived with Huxley to pick up the tennis balls, the lovable senior dog was so excited to greet the people at the club that he almost didn’t notice the sea of tennis balls at his paws.
“And then all of the sudden, he realized and his nose went to the ground,” Leech said.
At first, Huxley was overwhelmed by all the tennis balls around him, but “once he sat down and we started tossing them in the air, he loved it,” Leech said. “He’d kind of stretch his neck to grab them out of the air.”
Soon, Huxley was all-in with his tennis ball surprise. “He did not want to stop,” Leech said.
Watch Huxley play with his tennis ball gift here:
Huxley was able to bring all of the tennis balls home with him at the end of his surprise and continues to exude the most youthful puppy energy whenever he plays with them at home. In addition to his obsession with fetch, Huxley has developed a love for swimming. “He’s a retriever at heart, for sure,” Leech said.
Even though Huxley’s cancer is incurable, Leech told The Dodo that he “is doing amazing.”
For the remainder of his hospice care, Leech and her family will continue to shower Huxley with love and plenty of tennis balls to keep his puppy spirit strong until his very last tail-wag.
To help Huxley and other dogs get the care they need, make a donation to BAARK Dog Rescue.