Snow in June

Brooklyn Dog Trainer Brings Joy to Her Ailing Dog, Charlie

by Beth Bates

A good friend of mine told me the story of Sarah Westcott and her dog Charlie. After hearing her story and watching Sarah's video, I felt like I really needed to share this heartwarming story with my readers. I can only hope to be as good of a dog mom as Sarah is.

A little about Sarah:

Sarah is a dog trainer in Brooklyn, NY. She decided to become a trainer so that she could spend more time with Charlie, her Labrador Retriever. "A lot of trainers get into the business because they have a particularly challenging dog and in the process of working with him find that they are good at it.  For me, Charleston was such a joy to be with from the beginning that I wanted to help other people establish the kind of relationship with their dog that we had," explains Sarah.

Sarah adopted Charlie from the Humane Society of New York in 2003 when he was five months old. "I knew Charlie was for me as soon as he came out of the door.  He ran straight to me and put his head in my lap.  I was sold!"

In May of 2008, Charlie was diagnosed with a Fibrosarcomic tumor. It is inoperable due to the surgery being too high risk. Charlie likely would not survive the procedure. Sarah's vet recommended that she keep him as comfortable as possible until he is no longer able to cope.

Knowing that Charlie's days were limited and that he probably wouldn't see another winter, Sarah did something remarkable.

"We were bummed that he couldn't have one last snow because that was his favorite thing ever.   Whenever it snowed he lit up and found so much joy in just running in it, rolling in it, and eating it.  I still remember his reaction the first time he saw snow.  He was delighted."

After doing some Internet research, Sarah and her boyfriend, Vinny, ordered 600lbs. of ice from Tullo Ice.  Of course, the day the ice was delivered it was 96 degrees. But, they dumped the ice in the yard and hoped for the best.

"We had the ice delivered to Vinny's grandmother's house because she has a large yard.  It arrived in bags so Vinny, his brother Kevin and I quickly set about opening bags and emptying the ice onto the lawn.  We kept Charlie out until it was all set (I guess we thought we would be surprising him then).

It was even better than we could have imagined.  Once he figured out that he was allowed to play in the "snow" he was thrilled." 

In order to truly appreciate how much Charlie loves snow, you must check out the video of this wonderful event. This video WILL put a smile on your face. It's what made me need to know more about Charlie.

Sadly, Charlie was euthanized on June 28, 2008. Our thoughts and prayers are with Sarah. For more information about Sarah and Charlie, check out her blog.