Pipsqueak’s Pack

It doesn’t feel real. We are broken and lost. Our sweet Pipsqueak left us on Wednesday a little before 3am. We were on vacation, and we got a call from the pet sitter that Pip’s breathing was shallow. She rushed her to the ER. Once there, they did an X-ray and found she had fluid on her lungs and was in heart failure. She had never had a heart murmur or any issues with her heart.

We changed our flights hoping she would hold on until we get back in the country. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to hold on. The vet said she barked at them in the oxygen chamber and then went peacefully wrapped in blankets. She was bossy right until the end.

The hardest part was not being here. It’s the first time we’ve left her for more than a few hours in over 2.5 years. We think she may have waited to go once we were gone to save us the pain of seeing her pass.

She was our everything. We have lost a part of ourselves, and we are still in a fog. She was such a huge presence. She taught us more in our eight years together than we’ve ever learned from anyone else. She taught us to be strong. To fight. That no matter your ability or disability, you have worth and value. That anyone can make a positive difference in this world. For that, I am forever grateful. We feel so lucky to have had her in our lives. We feel so lucky that we were her people. We’ve never been more proud of anyone than we were of that little girl. We miss her completely.

She leaves an incredible legacy. Because of her, we have opened our homes and hearts to many other tiny dogs. The Pipsqueak Pack is here because of her. We started these social pages 6 years ago to keep a record of Pip’s life. Since she was only given a short time to live, we wanted a place to store her adventures and memories. Little did we know, she would defy the odds and love for 8 more years instead of the 6 months predicted when we adopted her. What surprised us the most though was how much she inspired others.

We will continue her social pages for as long as people want to see them. We will continue to use the hundreds of videos and pics we’ve never shared of her as reminders that even after you’re gone, your memory lives on. We will use her pages to share the lives of the other little ones in her pack. Trinket is so much like her. She is strong and defying the odds all the time. I like to believe Trinket had a year with Pip to learn how to fight and be strong like Pip.

Many have already asked how they can make a gift in her memory. Pip’s care was pricey including at the end. The ones we care for now are also pretty expensive. (Trinket has a surgery coming up this month.) So, we have set up a gofundme page in Pip’s memory to help offset the costs of our pack’s care and pay the bills left from Pip. We never started these pages as a way to make money, but the Pipsqueak Sanctuary sort of just happened in our home. When rescues called asking if we would take the teeny tiny dogs that are old, sick, or behaviorally difficult, we want to always be able to say yes, we can help them. We never want to have to say no to care for these pipsqueaks because of financial constraints.

If you’d rather give directly to a nonprofit, please give to her favorite nonprofit, Paws & Think. Her work as a therapy dog and spokesdog for them was one of her greatest joys. Give at pawsandthink.org/donate

We know many of you will grieve with us. Please know we are so thankful for you and for letting us share our greatest love with you, our Pip. Our remaining pack members are here to make you smile and send you love. Remember, whenever life gets hard and you may feel small, be mighty like Pip. #smallbutmighty