This is our 5-year-old German Shepherd/Husky Franklin F. Roosevelt, who’s basically the heart of our home. He’s the one who “protects” the couch from the cat, announces every UPS delivery like it’s breaking news, and could chase a laser pointer with his best friend Chloe for hours.

A couple of weeks ago, he jumped up on the couch and injured his back leg. After a few vet visits and X-rays, we found out he tore his ACL.

Our vet, Dr. Berardini, told us that without surgery, it’s only going to get worse. His other leg will end up taking the strain and could tear too, and within a year he might not be able to walk. Hearing that was devastating. Franklin loves being up, moving around, and just being part of everything we do.

The surgery is about $6,900. We’re doing what we can, but it’s more than we can cover on our own right now. Without it, he’ll be dealing with pain and medication long-term, and that’s not the life we want for him. We are looking into a vetenarian in Mexico that may be less. We will be holding a yard sale to also raise funds for Frank. Date is to be determined still.

Franklin isn’t just a pet, he’s part of our family of 7. Our house would feel so empty without him. We also lost our other dog to cancer a few years ago, and going through something like that again, or even watching Franklin struggle, is just heartbreaking to think about.

If you’re able to help at all, we would be so grateful. Even just sharing this means a lot to us. Truly, anything helps.

Thank you for taking the time to read about Franklin and for helping us try to get him back to his happy, goofy self.