Our Fight for Diesel

For those of you who have fur babies you understand. I don’t need to explain the love you feel for your dog. For those of you who have Vizslas, well, you are acutely aware of the obsession that began the day you brought your red head home. The story that is about to unfold is both painful and we hope heart-warming.


A little bit about our family.  Dustin and I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We have two Vizslas; Dakota is our 8 year old female (*see below for more background). She is sassy and stubborn. She is most definitely my husband Dustin’s dog. Willful doesn’t even come close. She is also very loving and affectionate. She “roos” on a regular basis. Especially if she wants to play her favorite game of goalie with the tennis ball. Dakota is little Miss Independent. This girl marches to the beat of her own drum. She has become even more sugar-faced this year and started to slow down a bit. She is still a puppy at heart though. Take her to a lake and she becomes a little shark with only her head visible as she silently stalks some unsuspecting duck in the water. She’s our first Vizsla and one for the books! Love her to pieces.  Diesel is our 7 year old male. He is a momma’s boy for sure. The biggest in his litter of 12 (affectionately known as the Dirty Dozen) did not disappoint. He chose me.  When we went to visit the litter I sat in the grass.  M-4 walked up to me, stood in my lap and began to kiss my neck. Sold. Done. This one is ours. I think many of you can relate.


Our gentle boy is the biggest male Vizsla we’ve ever met. He’s solid at 70 lbs and very handsome. Diesel is also incredibly sensitive. He’s shy at first until he gets to know you. The boy has many unique personality quirks (one of a million things we love about dogs). He always wants to hold your hand when you pet him.  We joke that Diesel should have come with his own construction beeper. You know, the one you hear when equipment backs up. Diesel will slowly turn around and back himself into your lap and then promptly sit in it. Many of you have experienced this hallmark trait over the years. He is content to just be with his humans in any setting. Diesel loves to carry toys in his mouth. Especially his godog iguana named Burt. He will pick out a select few toys, as many as he can fit in his mouth before greeting you.  Oh, and he's terrified of garden gnomes or fixtures of any sort. One of a kind. He has many names; Mister Diesel, Deece, buddy, bubba. He’s our baby. We’d do anything for him, for both of them.


Diesel had started limping the second week in August. My husband noticed it while we were talking on the phone. We were concerned of course, but we attributed it to either a play date or time at daycare. He loves to play as much as any other dog. We kept an eye on it. He was still running and acting like his normal goofy self. Our daycare provider made sure he didn’t go out with the big dogs, leashed walked him, and gave him lots of couch time. The limping continued. I happened to mention it to the rehab specialist during an unrelated conversation. I ended up making an appointment with the rehab vet just in case it didn’t get any better. Unfortunately, it was a three week wait. We didn’t take him to our regular vet because if it did end up being his ACL we wanted to start with a specialty vet. We continued to monitor him. We had a previously planned trip north which we were excited about. We were at the cottage on the lake for less than 24 hours and Diesel’s limp had become so bad. We took him to a vet in Traverse City who was kind enough to give us a limited supply of Galliprant (NSAID) to help decrease the pain and inflammation. It helped a bit, but we knew something was going on, still thinking it was his ACL. We continued to wait. Diesel was seen on Sept 17th by the rehab vet. After a thorough exam she felt confident it was not his ACL, possibly arthritis. She recommended Xrays and labs. Unfortunately, we had to wait until Sept 26th to get this done. My phone rang later that afternoon. That’s when she told us. That one word. Cancer. Osteosarcoma to be exact. The radiologist saw it in the distal femur of his back right leg. Cancer. Our 7 year old boy has cancer.  Our world was rocked. Destroyed is more accurate.


All the thoughts go rushing through your mind at warp speed. Are you sure? Both crying at this point we listened as she gave recommendations for an oncologist in our town. I hung up and called immediately, barely able to speak through the tears as I made the appointment for one week. The 24 hours that followed are a blur. Denial comes to mind. Anger. Depression. All 5 stages of grief at warp speed. As we looked at Diesel, we asked ourselves what could be done. By the second day both Dustin and I began to research this diagnosis. A fire had been lit within us. We made the unspoken decision that we were going to fight. We came to the conclusion that we ultimately do not want him to suffer, but we also want him to live his best life for however long that may be. We kept him on restricted activity which as you know is almost impossible to do with a Vizsla.


I joined multiple groups on Facebook looking for answers and support. We looked into everything related to the oncology appointment; exam, diagnostic tests such as fine-needle aspiration, bone biopsy, limb-sparing procedure, bisphosphonate injections, chemo, radiation. Pain management is also a huge concern because this particular cancer is extremely aggressive and very, very painful. When the appointment with the oncologist came around on Oct 3rd we were prepared. 


The oncologist confirmed what the radiologist saw. She was so confident she didn’t recommend any further work up with the aspiration or bone biopsy (which is risky in that it weakens the bone making it more susceptible to fracture). The good news. Finally, some good news!!! His chest Xray and abdominal Xray were clear. No sign of metastasis. Osteosarcoma commonly mets to the lungs. His bloodwork was perfect. His abdominal ultrasound was perfect. No sign of mets to his internal organs or lymph nodes. Thank you God! However, the oncologist also made the recommendation that we knew was coming. Amputation. It’s the quickest and most effective way to not only rid him of the awful pain he is in, but eliminate the primary tumor as well. His condyle is eaten up by cancer. Amputation. Remove Diesel’s leg. Tears. So many ugly tears have been shed. We made the appointment knowing this is what he needs.  It will take place Monday October 7th. The first chemo treatment will be done 10-14 days after the amputation and will continue every 3 weeks for at least 4 treatments. He may need more.



This is the hardest, most emotionally trying thing we have experienced with our two redheads. This is also humbling. We need help. It’s so hard to even to put our story out for public knowledge. We know that we will face judgement for this from those we know and those we don’t. We don’t care. Diesel, like any animal deserves the best.


We have already spent almost $3,000 on the four vet visits, pain meds, and supplements he needs. The amputation will cost about $4,200. Four rounds of chemo is estimated at $2,000. This is just the beginning of his care.  The financial goal does not include the cost for Physical Therapy, specialty diet or additional chemo treatments down the road. It’s overwhelming and at the same time discouraging when faced with the financial piece.



Please know that we appreciate any amount of generosity shown towards Diesel.  The funds donated will go towards Diesel's medical bills (amputation, the four chemo treatments, labs and Xrays, and medications).  Any donation will withdrawn weekly and transferred to cover costs incurred over the course of the month. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. From one dog loving family to another.

Dustin, Christine, Dakota & Diesel


Extra Information:

Dakota’s Story: the main reason financial assistance is needed is because we already have one special needs Vizsla. In the summer of 2017 Dakota went lame. After Xrays and a vet visit we took her to Michigan State University where we discovered that she had torn both of her ACLs and meniscus and needed surgery. A second opinion was obtained with the same recommendation. On August 25th 2017 she had a Tibial Plateau Leveling Operation performed on her right knee. She had the left knee done October 6th 2017. It was so hard to see her go through this. We paid for a sitter to stay with her at home for about 8 weeks while she recovered. Also to administer meds throughout the day. Six months of Physical Therapy followed. She was finally discharged in March of 2018 and we thought yesssss! Finally. Hurdle over. If only that were the case. On September 27th 2018 Dakota experienced a sudden onset of what we now know was severe separation anxiety. She had chewed up the trim by the garage door. The next day while we were working, she went after the trim again. This progressed to the front door trim and closet as well as carpet. Except this time she pierced her pads on the carpet tacks strips so their was blood. We tried everything (herbals, CBD, Trazodone, essential oils). We were able to get into MSU again within 3 weeks. She was started on Prozac with Trazodone. Neurontin was eventually added. We built a 5x13 pen in the basement and she escape and continued to injure herself and damage the house. MSU referred us to an amazing trainer (Jane Wolff) who specializes in Separation Anxiety. Dakota has not been left alone since January 22nd 2019.  Jane has helped us work miracles with Dakota by doing systematic desensitization training exercises. Up until last week we were doing these 5 days a week up to 3 hours each day. So, in addition to the specialist vet bills, the prescription meds, the dog trainer, we had to add in daycare for two dogs. We are committed to these dogs. We have done all that we can. We just can’t do it without help anymore. If we have learned anything from Separation Anxiety it's that it's ok to ask for help.




Thank you for taking the time to read our story and meet our pups!