His ARF House Shelter name was Hawthorne, but I called him jojo.

I volunteer at another shelter, and I usually fall in love with all the animals, and want to take them all home. Visitors who come to the shelter often walk our halls and a take their time in choosing the right companion for themselves. I usually tell them, you'll know -- because they will let you know. And I can assure you, that this is in fact, the truth.

I saw JoJo and instantly fell in love with him, I was told that he was blind, but that made me love him even more. The person holding him at that time, said that he might not take to you right away, as he doesn't like strangers. I told them that I would be very careful. I told JoJo that I was going to hold him, and this little guy, took a big sigh and settled into my arms and went to sleep. That's when I knew, HE was the one.

About two weeks later, I was the new foster mom. Kate who had been fostering him since birth, also fostered some of his siblings. But before I brought him home, I read everything that I could on raising a visually impaired dog. So I was ready for the opportunity, and ready to share my love with him. Some of his other siblings had been experiencing mild seizures, but jojo had not had one, so we thought he was going to be spared.

Unfortunately, JoJo developed grand mal seizures. The first couple of days they were mild, but as the week progressed, my little angel seizures increased rapidly. He went from having maybe 2 or 3 a day, to having multiple seizures in an hour. The vet put him on seizure medication but that did not help. The next day I rushed him to the ER Vet, and they did an MRI and a spinal tap. The spinal tap came back normal, but the MRI showed extensive abnormalities in the brain. The vet put him on another seizure medication with the hope that it would help. But Saturday night (Jul 7 2012) my angel had continual seizures all night, no amount of comforting him, holding him, seemed to help, they seem to become more violent with each one. That's when we knew that the angels in heaven needed another puppy to play with. The heart-wrentching decision to put jojo to sleep was made. I wrapped him up in a blanket and met the previous foster mother at the ER.

They came In and told us that they would put a port in to administer the medicine that would sedate him and that would eventually stop his heart, it seem to take a long time, so Kate and I told stories of how much he had grown in the week, and the cute little things he did. He even was using the piddle pads in the last days,

Both of us had made the decision to be with him to the end. However, because he had no veins left, they had to heavily sedate him to bring him to us. They told us we could stay as long as we wanted, and that when we were ready, he would be taken back to the anesthesiologist, where he would send jojo on his final journey home.

JoJo was brought to us wrapped in a blanket for us to say our "goodbyes". We comforted him with our tears, and told him that the pain was over, and he was going to go to a place that had popsicles and watermelon (both his favorites), and that he would now be able to run and jump and play with all the others.

It was now time to say our final goodbye, so we both kissed him goodbye again and told him that we loved him and will miss him very much. But the pain is over.

The vet tech picked him up to prepare him for his final journey home.

I am so grateful to Kate and to Linda for their support they gave me in the very short time that jojo was with me. JoJo may have only been with me for a week, but he will live in my mind and my heart forever. I can still feel him in my arms and even though I know he was blind, his eyes seem to know that I was comforting him when he was struggling so hard and seem to be in so much pain.

So I end with tears streaming down my face, and say Thank you ARF House for allowing me to be part of JoJo's life,

This little angel has forever touched the lives of so many people. And now it is time to say, Love you JoJo -- run, play, eat watermelon and popsickles, because there is no more pain.