Henry is a fully trained therapy dog who’s devoted his life to helping children with disabilities and special needs, including the daughter of his human. He goes anywhere he’s needed, be it hospital, playgroup or school. To Henry, every kid matters and he’s the best four-legged therapy mutt you’ll ever meet. But now he needs your help.

Every hero grows old in the end and Henry has reached the regal age of 11. But tell Henry to slow down and he’ll have none of it (like all the best old men). Sadly the other day, Henry’s legs stopped working and the little guy started screaming. We were all terrified and rushed him to the vet. The news wasn't good: a slipped disc.

It’s a serious injury for a dachshund and must be acted on immediately. The cruel truth is that it's highly fixable but so expensive that families are given an impossible decision to make. Our family faced two options – put Henry down or somehow scrape the money together to fix him. Thing is, we believe that unless there's no hope and you're prolonging a poor life, you don't quit on your dog. Especially one who's given so much.

The operation went ahead, with the promise of weeks of physio and hydrotherapy to get Henry walking again. The vet has high hopes for a full recovery and we’re all rallying behind Henry to get him back on his feet again.

And now the tough part: our family doesn’t have much money – the surgery and therapy fees are pretty much breaking us. However, we made a promise to Henry when we took him in as the runt of the litter no one wanted. We promised to stand by him and care for him as much as he does for us. 

Please help us make good on our promise, please help us to help Henry walk again. The path is long, but with the support of dachshund-lovers everywhere, and from everyone who knows that pets are family, we’ll get Henry up and running in no time.