After years of being jobless and homeless, Ed’s life took flight for the better with a rescue dog who needed a second chance as well. This is their story in Ed’s own words.

Gone to the dogs

My name is Ed. I am an 80-year-old Air Force veteran who grew up in an Air Force family that always had one small, but enormous influence on my brother and my life: a four-legged, tail-wagging, cold-nosed furry third member of the family—our dogs.

Throughout my younger years I attended 13 different schools in 12 years with the one consistent thread binding us all together was our family of five. Father, Mother, two boys and—of course—the family dogs.

After having served four years in the Air Force, I went through many changes in careers brought on by evolving economic scenarios. Attending evening classes at university, I was recruited by a major corporation to help manage projects in telecommunications, and finally over to a petrochemical project in Venezuela in 2000.

Unfortunately, after only four months, there followed the 09/11 disaster, which caused irreparable injury to so many and to the country. We were evacuated back to the United States.

Life gone astray

What followed was a long period of joblessness and living off unemployment benefits, followed by homelessness for many years. At 55+ years old there weren’t many paths to follow. Even as a chef’s help in food services, at least there was food.

Eventually I wound up in St. Petersburg Florida with my trusty adopted dog Rowdy—a fine Black Lab with a heart and soul of peace and comfort. We were the best pals for eight years. A truly wonderful bond between two old dogs, so to speak.

Rowdy passed away suddenly on February 14th this year. It was as if I lost my best friend. For a while I was sort of lost without his always wagging tail and wet-nosed nuzzles.

“It was instantaneous”

Then somehow, someway, the Pets for Patriots program was introduced to me. What a great day that was!!!

The wonderful, committed folks at Pets for Patriots have built an amazing bridge to bring deserving souls together. My new pal Cooper and I can attest to that one-thousand percent.

Let me introduce you to Cooper.

Cooper is a four-year-old Weimaraner with boundless energy and always ready to go at the slightest ask. Apparently, his original owner did not have time to care for Cooper and left him at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay.

For a young fellow to lose his only owner at four years old must have been confusing and devastating, to say the least. Luckily the Humane Society of Tampa Bay is a very nice facility with all the resources a newcomer could ask for. Except for a broken heart.

Tampa was too far for me to travel by myself, but a good friend who had experience with her own rescue dog, Whiskey, volunteered to drive me across the bay bridge to meet Cooper and see if there might be a pairing.

It was instantaneous.

Cooper was so excited that he kept swirling in circles and bumping up against me. I was really happy to meet him too.

Gratitude

Ever since then our bond has been growing, and we both help each other enjoy life in parallel ways.

We have a very large middle school two blocks away from my apartment, and every morning around 0700 we go walking on a route around the school and through an adjacent park that takes 4,000 steps.

Later around 1900 we repeat a similar walk for another 3,000 steps so our daily exercise efforts are keeping us in good stead.

I am a participant in a VA teleconference seniors group every Monday and Friday mornings, and inevitably there are always questions, ‘How’s Cooper doing?’  He makes his presence well known.

We’re making good progress together.

And mid-October we’ll have a very well-reviewed dog trainer come by to help calm Cooper’s anxiety issues when I have to leave for various appointments.

Cooper is well-liked by my housemate Larry, who babysits when I must leave for short times. Everything just takes a little time to resolve.

I really can’t say thank you enough to the Pets for Patriots team for making their wonderful bridge between veterans and pets so accessible. Thank you so much for improving both of our lives.