Hello! My name is Benjamin, and together with my girlfriend Nadja I have the most amazing dog in the world, Haku. He is a big boy sheltie with a very outgoing personality - he just loves people and other doggos! Also he looks kinda cute with a bowtie, don't you think?

(picture from last christmas)

We started noticing that his hip occasionally was making a "clicking" sound at quite an early age, probably from when he was around 6 months old. When we asked the vet about it they said that we should wait with an xray until he is older. That the sound could just be from his bones not being completely grown in place yet (this happens around 1 year of age from what I understand). So we waited, and planned to wait until he was 1 year old. Until a dog instructor at a class we were taking with Haku told us after the lesson that "it doesn't look right when he's walking", and when we told her what the vet had told us she shaked her head in disappointment. Next day, we booked a time at the dog orthopedist the first thing in the morning.

The result was the following picture. The second xray picture is how the hip bones SHOULD be aligned to the hip sockets. We were told that Haku SHOULD NOT be able to walk. That the only reason he can literally stand and walk is because of us building up his muscles very well from when we got him. 

We were absolutely shocked. Sure, his hip is clicking a bit and he is "swaying" back and forth a bit when walking - but besides that he is running and playing like a normal dog. I was working the late shift when Nadja went for the appointment with the orthopedist, and as soon as I got the news, I called my boss and said I need someone to come instantly and take over my shift. 15 minutes later I was in the car with Nadja, and I can't remember the last time I cried that much. I was completely devasted - we expected his hip to have some kind of flaw, but this? That physically he shouldn't be able to even walk? Utterly crushing news.    


But. There's always a silver lining, even in this terrible situation. There is a procedure, a surgery, that when it is done and rehabilitating process is over, Haku will be able to live a fully normal life again. Not again - for the FIRST TIME in his life he will be able to have a normal life, painless, with fully functioning hips. 


A bit more detail of his condition and surgery required. 

Haku has something called hip dysplasia, and a severe version at that. To fix this, the proposed surgery they will have to cut off a part of his hip bone, and attatch a prostethic part which would work as an interim between the hip bone and the hip socket, linking them together the way they should be. This is the procedure that has not only the most success rate, but also with the best outcome after rehabilitation for Haku. 

Now comes the problem, and the only reason I am here on this site, reaching out for help. The surgery is a quite expensive one. Just the cost of the surgery is 67000 SEK per hip, which equals around 6600€, or 8000 $. PER HIP. And this is just the srugery cost, then there is rehabilitation, revisits, medication... Putting it short: there is a lot of things that costs a lot of money. Not only that, we are unfortunate enough to have the ONLY insurance company that is currently (although we are hoping for it to change) saying they will pay nothing of the surgical costs. 

To explain the insurance situation a bit more: Basically to do the surgery we want, because it is the best one for Haku, they would have to first cut off a part of the hip bone - something called "caput resection" (kaputresektion in swedish), and then attatch the prostethics. If we choose to do only the caput resection, which is a "viable" option (but much worse for the dog, and would most likely need to do surgery again later in his life), then the insurance company would pay for that. But if we choose to do the prosthethics part aswell, they say they will cover nothing because it falls under a different category of surgeries for them, which they apparently pay nothing for. 

What we wish to happen is that they still pay for the caput resection  (which they would pay for if we did the surgery which is worse for the dog), and we ourselves pay the remaining part of the surgery. This would probably cut the surgery costs in half. We have 2 people that are in talks with the insurance company as of now to make this happen, but we don't know yet whether it will matter or not.

There you have the story, and the reason for this gofundme - to give my amazing dog a future. At this point all that is left for me is asking for your help. Every little bit helps, regardless of amount - and everything is appreciated beyond words. I am not a person that usually asks people for help, but this time it is the only thing I can do.

Please help me save my boy and give him a normal life <3

ALSO BIG THANKS ALREADY TO EVERYONE THAT DONATED DIRECTLY TO MY PAYPAL BEFORE I SET THIS UP!!! YOU ALL HAVE A SSPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART! <3