Then came the event of our lifetime which changed EVERYTHING.   When talking about our family’s history, we describe it as before Katrina and after Katrina. When Hurricane Katrina hit, I was at work at the Naval Home and didn’t get home unto 2 days after the storm had passed.  They told us to go home, take care of our families and report back to work in 2 weeks.

My wife Suzuko, my daughter Mico, her boyfriend and two other Japanese ladies, along with all the dogs, plus one of our friend’s dog, rode out the storm in our house on Donna Street in Gulfport. The storm ripped off 75% of the roof, and then the ceilings collapsed upstairs and down in all the rooms except our master bedroom and the Buddhist Alter room.  I had boarded up the house well, gotten a portable generator and stocked several cans of gas.  We had food and water for about 10 days.  I thought we would be prepared for anything but Katrina sure showed me how wrong I was. The house was ruined, but we were all right.  A few days later the black mold started showing up on all the walls and what was left of the ceilings. We had used up most of the gas saved for the generator and still no power for the neighborhood. I was coughing and the dogs were sneezing from the mold.  It was time to evacuate.

So we loaded up the six dogs, divided the remaining gas between the three cars, and left Gulfport. My daughter’s boyfriend took the two Japanese ladies in his car to Houston, TX and while Suzuko, Mico, myself and the dogs, formed a two car convoy heading for Savanna, GA to my brother’s house. We were there few days when I decided to return to Gulfport to work on cleaning up the house and getting a travel trailer for us to live in until we could get the house rebuilt. I bought a small 10 foot trailer, 20 cans of gas, a window AC unit and a chainsaw, and Hope and I returned to Gulfport. Working on the house, cleaning up all the felled trees and shingles and roof parts, I got the roof covered with a blue tarp.  Hope and I slept in the bedroom where I had installed the window AC. It was spooky, but she slept next to me and only occasionally growled to alert me to a strange noise. But all went well.

I drove to Pensacola, FL, bought a 27 foot travel trailer, hauled it back and set it up in the side yard, next to the dog run.  Then, I bought a 12’ x 14’ greenhouse from Sam’s Club and set it up next to the trailer.  One side held the freezer, refrigerator, washing and drying machine, food pantry and the other half of it would become the dog house for 5 dogs. I installed the window AC in there and it was quite comfortable for all of them.

After a week, Hope and I went back to Savanna to bring the family back home to Gulfport. I decided to spend another week at my brother’s house to relax a little, and that was just fate or something, but it was a good thing I did.  A few days later, I got a call from Amy saying Caroline and her 2 dogs were marooned in Ohio and needed help.  I called Caroline, found out where she was and the next morning, Suzuko and I were on the road to Ohio.  10 hours later we pulled into the place where Caroline was staying. Loaded her crates and luggage on the top of my Mini-blazer and her dogs, Hemi and Nala in the truck and we returned to my brother’s house. We now had 8 dogs and five adults in our party, and I thanked my brother Lee and his wonderful wife Shirley for taking care of us and putting up with this huge gang of four legged kids, but we had to get on home and get started rebuilding our lives.

So we rented an open U-haul trailer, crated the dogs in that and made the trip back to Mississippi. We dropped off Caroline and her two at their house, (Luckily they had suffered very little damage.) and we finally got back to our new temporary home. The dogs didn’t seem to mind the new dog house, and we became accustomed to camping out in the travel trailer. We cooked out every day it didn’t rain and the dogs all enjoyed being with us at the patio dinner table. We were to live like this for the next seven months until we got the house rebuilt.

But during this time tragedy struck again.  I woke up early one morning in October to let the dogs out to potty, before going to work.  Everyone got out of bed except Apple.  Going into the greenhouse, I discovered she had passed away in her sleep.  She was still warm and she looked asleep but she wasn’t there really. Called Suzuko and we wrapped her and placed her in my car and we cremated her that day.  She had a heart mummer and it apparently took her while she slept.  Apple was a Grand Lil’ Lass, and was 14 years old when she crossed the bridge. 

The next weekend after a couple days of gut pain, I went to the ER.  They rushed me to surgery as I had a suffered a rupture to my colon, became septic and almost died.  They removed 8 inches of my colon and I had to wear a colonoscopy bag for the next 4 months. That was extremely hard to live with.  The home put me on 60 days sick leave and I slowly recovered.  I had plenty of time to play with the dogs, only just having to protect my stomach from anyone jumping up on me. It seemed progress on our house rebuilding was slow, so to relieve some of the boredom, I jumped in and did most of the electrical work myself. I had always wanted to buy an RV, but believe me, after 7 months in that travel trailer, I never want to see an RV again.

Our homestead from September 2005 through May 2006 The dog house had AC and heat also. 
Hope (left) and Dolly enjoying a sunny afternoon on Thanksgiving Day 2005.

.

Trixie

Trixie, Shogun2, Hope and Dolly watching the steaks on the Bar-B-Q grille, Nov 2005.

We had a good holiday season, giving thanks at Thanksgiving for surviving Katrina, and the family was together with friends.  I was recovering from my surgery and I actually could go to work with “The Bag” on, but I looked forward to the day it would come off.  In mid January the DC Administration for the AFRH called all the employees in and told us we would be RIFed (reduction in force; that’s government speak for losing our jobs) on the last day of February 2006. On the 10^th of February, I underwent surgery again to have the bag removed and the plumbing reconnected.  I had to stay in the hospital for three days, until I demonstrated that the plumbing worked and was not clogged in any way.  Never did I look forward to such an event in my entire life. Can you imagine being so excited by such a normal act of nature?  I was ecstatic when everything worked as it was supposed to. A few weeks later I was on welfare, something I never envisioned happening to me.  Retired with over 30 years in the military, many of those years working two and three jobs at a time, then a good government job; all didn’t pay the bills or seem to mean much then.  I was now on the government dole, receiving $228 a week. It was so galling and I was discouraged when I was told this unemployment would only last for 4 months.  With the post-Katrina job situation on the Gulf coast, I was really depressed.

The Dogs are what kept me going, brought me out of my depression, and enabled me to get my act back together and start sending resumes to different government agencies.  I threw myself into getting the house rebuilt and playing with the dogs in the evenings, and on the computer each night before going to bed looking for a good job. Hope would come into the trailer and set at my feet, sometimes with her head in my lap, looking up at me. I believe she missed working at the Home also. But she also inspired me to try harder to get a good job.

At the end of May and the house was almost done.  We moved in with just the kitchen cabinets remaining to be installed, but by mid June, the house was complete and it was gorgeous.  We did the house with the first floor almost all ceramic tiles and it was easy to keep clean. Suzuko, the dogs and I were very happy.

Well, when it rains, it pours.  I had applied as a facilities manager with the National Parks Service.  They interviewed me for a job at Denali National Park at Anchorage Alaska.  Would you believe one of the KSA’s was the ability to operate a snowmobile. Suzuko said NO WAY!!!, so that was out. Next I was offered a position as an assistant PWO at NAS Lenore CA.  I was considering this seriously and Suzuko liked the idea of moving to California. I had one day left to make the decision, when I got a call from GSA Atlanta. This is where I really wanted to go. I did the interview then and waited, worrying because I had already turned down two good jobs.  During the last week of September, a GSA representative came to Gulfport and I did a second interview for the position in Atlanta.  It went well, and he said they would be in contact soon. A week later I was hired with a starting date of Dec. 1^st.

                    Hope in our newly rebuilt house.

    Mico w/ Hope, Shogun2, Trixie and Dolly in front of the child guards
   at the big Shrine room. The dogs were not allowed on the new carpet.

                Shogun2, Hope and Trixie played out.

                                  Dolly tired out also.

Things were looking up. A new job in December and we were looking forward to moving to Atlanta.

November 16, 2006.  I will never forget that date as long as I live. It was Sunday, early evening, when a neighbor came to the door. She said she thought she saw one of our dogs running up at the end of our street.  I said thanks, but mine were all in the back yard.

On checking, Shogun2 was not in the yard, and the gate was open.  I rushed to the truck and flew up the street. There was a crowd there, traffic stopped, and then my worse possible nightmare:  I jumped out of the truck, saw Shogun2 lying in the street, running to him, I called his name.  He lifted his head up, looked at me and laid it back down.  I asked a man standing there to help me pick him up, carry him and placed him gently on the back seat of my pickup truck.  I returned home, told Suzuko that Shogun2 was hurt and in the truck, and spent a few minutes trying to find a vet that was open, as our emergency vet just down the road on Highway 49 had gone out of business a week before.

I finally located one in Biloxi, 22 miles away and we took off, Suzuko holding Shogun in her lap in the back seat.  No red lights stopped me, as I rushed to I-10 and pegged the big Dodge truck’s speedometer down the interstate.  Seven minutes later we pulled up in front of the Animal Emergency hospital. I ran in, got a tech and a gurney and we rushed Shogun2 to the operating room.  Helplessly we waited for too short a time, and I saw the Vet taking off his gloves, look at me, and tell us that our precious boy was gone. Deep in my heart I already knew it as there was no motion from Shogun2 when we loaded him on the gurney, but I still prayed that he would somehow make it. Suzuko and I said our tearful goodbyes, touching him and caressing him one last time, before we went home.

The other dogs were there as I checked the gate.  An electrician had been to our house that afternoon replacing a bad disconnect switch to the AC unit on the back deck.  When he left, apparently he had not pulled the gate shut hard enough, and the double latch had not set, and somehow, possibly the blowing wind, I’ll never know, the gate opened.  And just like that our gorgeous big red Shogun2 was taken from us. I really had a hard time dealing with this as it was so unexpected. I blamed myself for not checking that dammed gate after the electrician had left.

The memorial I placed on site at the end of Donna Street where Shogun2 was killed.

I have been stuck here at this point in writing this tale for the past week.  Each evening when I tried to write this I have broken down, crying like a little kid and just couldn’t put the words down, as even today the pain is far too great. It is so difficult to write about that time and to condense it down to these last 2 pages. I am still not over his loss, and now with the Passing of Hope, it is almost more than I can bear. Somehow life went on then.  And somehow life is going on now.

I was in a daze. A few days later, Terri called and told me about a big red male GCDR had in boarding at a place by the NOLA airport.  We drove there not really expecting anything to happen.  The grief of losing my Shogun2 had hardened my heart.  I wanted no more dogs.  We met Terri there at the place and I can’t remember hardly anything about that day, except her saying, not to expect too much, as this dog was a bit wild, and she could see I was still overcome by grief.  But when they brought this big red male out, I bent down to look closely at his face, and he started giving me kisses.  I think this is a trick or something that we should train every dog we rescue to do.  Talk about instant awareness.  Against all my determinations to the contrary, I heard my mouth saying, “OK Terri, we’ll take him home, just to see how it goes.”  And so, Shogun3 joined the Marshall family.

                    Shogun3 (with little Miku, an Atlanta foster)

The next 6 weeks were extremely hectic.  The house was sold, I had moved to Atlanta to start work, coming home every weekend. I lost count of the times during that six hour drive that I suddenly had to pull off to the side of the highway as I found myself crying so hard, I couldn’t see to drive. I always went straight to the house where we kept the dogs, and I usually called Suzuko as I was approaching Biloxi to let her know I would be there soon.  I could see Hope doing her happy dance as soon as she heard my truck pull up in the driveway and that alerted the other dogs that I was there.

Suzuko was a trooper.  We kept the dogs at our friend’s house with the big yard, using their sunroom to house their crates.  Suzuko lived at another friend’s house a good 30 minutes drive away and her time was busy taking care of four dogs by herself, and doing the final closing for the sale of our Gulfport house.  One of those days, while I was gone, Hope and Dolly had a terrific fight and they hurt each other pretty badly.  We had to separate Dolly from the rest of the dogs because for some reason, she just had to challenge Hope at every turn.  Thank goodness for Caroline who took Dolly in for awhile, until I could close on the house in Atlanta.  Finally everything worked out, and two days before Christmas, we loaded up another U-haul with the empty crates, suitcases, and a bunch of Suzuko’s plants, the dogs in my Dodge truck and moved to our house in Snellville, midway between Stone Mountain and Atlanta. It was the first Christmas in too many years to count that I did not have a Christmas tree.

Although Atlanta started out on a gloomy note, our 3 years there came to be very happy times. Hope retired from therapy practice on all but me.  She helped me through the rough times, including my second near death illness caused by a careless surgeon. I spent 60 days in the hospital recovering from a punctured bowel. And Suzuko would bring Hope to the hospital to see me.  I could wheel chair out to the entrance court and be with Hope for thirty minutes. Sometimes I think how much she rescued me and feel I could never repay her for how she changed my life for the better.

Again on our long walks through ours and the neighboring subdivisions, she met many people and won them over with her charming ways.  Ten minutes drive from our house was Gwinnett County Park, with two huge dog off-leash sections of the park, one for big dogs and one for small. All the dogs were well known there, especially Hope, who was the darling of all dog owners.  With her battle scars, and her graying coat, she was known for her abuse story and for being a retired therapy dog.  People were amazed at how gentle she was.  She never fought with any of the multitude of dogs there, but was friendly towards all and ran and played with many.

In Atlanta, Trixie came out of her shell.  A big gentle girl, she had been well trained.  She never got on any furniture and never made a mess in the house.  She would nudge my hand when she wanted to go out and her usual place was by the front door.  She stared out that front door looking for something, and was like a guard dog on post.  When we went out, she wasn’t much into running too often, but I noticed something about her.  She didn’t go out of her way to make friends; she sort of just acted like a black lab, just there waiting to be petted. One day at the park, a tall thin, older lady came with her grown up daughter, grandkids and 2 labs. Trixie made a beeline for the older lady as soon as she saw her and sat right next to her at the bench, and put her head into the lady’s lap. She stuck to her like glue. I learned the ladies name was Alice, and she had recently moved here from Alabama to live with her daughter.  We talked a lot and were both amazed how much Trixie took to her. I didn’t figure it out to much later.

Trixie in the back yard.  She loved to be out of the dog run area.

              Hope sunbathing in the dog run at the Atlanta house.

I now noticed anytime an older women came to the park, Trixie always went to them for a few minutes only, and then returned to her normal routine.  But whenever we ran into Alice, Trixie came alive and had to be next to her the whole time Alice was in the park.

The county made some improvements in the off leash area.  They installed some crawl thru barrels, several up and down “A” stairs and other agility equipment.  Of course I tried all the dogs on this, but they weren’t interested in the obstacles, except for Trixie, who took to it like a natural.  She was a different dog on the course and really came out of her shell here. She was the only one who went up and over the stairs without being teased by a treat. As soon as we got in the gate, she headed for the course and she would get up on top of the first “A” stairs and look all around to make sure we saw her. I never would have guessed it. She was just having such fun first running up, pausing to look around, and then down the other side again and again.

At Home, for the most part, I and the dogs lived in the basement. I had my 106” TV, a killer surround sound stereo, beer refrigerator and the dogs slept in their crates there. Life was good. Trixie and Dolly spent hours wrestling and mouthing each other.  They played and chased each other, either in the dog run or in the yard, constantly.  They were always paired: Trixie and Dolly, Hope and Shogun3. There was a large bath/toilet room down there, and whenever there was a storm, Hope slept in the bathroom, as she was terrified of thunder and lightning. (I think it was from her days stuck in that 6x6 outdoor cage through all the bad weather.)

On March 16, 2008, we had gone to the park that morning and all was well. I was watching a late afternoon football game on TV.  The dogs had stopped playing just a short time ago, and now that it was half time, I got out of the recliner and said “Go Pee”. This was the cue for everyone to jump up and merrily go outside to do their business. Hope, Shogun3 and Dolly rushed past me out the door, but Trixie was still resting I thought and hadn’t moved. I called to her first, then went to her. Kneeling down to touch her, I could see she had crossed the Bridge.  She was so peaceful, still warm, but her tongue was out and not moving and there was no life in her eyes. We took her to our Vet there and she had her cremated for us.  She said it appeared Trixie had suffered a massive heart attack and passed on as she rested.  She was lying on the floor just a few feet from my recliner but never let out a yelp or anything it was so sudden.

I remembered the story of how GCDR got Trixie and it was that she belonged to an older woman that passed on and the family didn’t want to deal with the dog, so GCDR took her.  I think she was just spending time waiting so she could join her Mistress at the bridge.  That’s why she was always looking out the front door and why she was always checking out the older women she ran across.  I guess Alice must have reminded her of her previous mistress.  We loved Trixie and of course treated her as a member of our family, but now that I think about it, she was never really ours.  I hope she is with her former Mistress today and they are enjoying being together on the other side of the bridge. I truly miss Trixie and her gentle ways.

When it got too hot outside, we had a doggie door to the sunroom for the dogs to crash in. 
It was air-conditioned, with a great view of the woods and neighborhood, and they enjoyed resting there.

Life went on.  Atlanta was fine; we had a great house, I had a good job, and we had some nice neighbors (3 out of 4 sides) and friends there. We had great times with the dogs.  We drove down to New Orleans in March to see our new granddaughter and also so I could march in the Marti Paws parade with Hope and Shogun3.  I brought Dolly also, but left her in the hotel room for the parade, as she was too hyper for that activity.  Of course we got to meet all of the GCDR members we hadn’t seen in a long time, and enjoyed both days.  The activities at the place where we held the first GCDR memorial and party were outstanding, and of course the walking in the parade the next day was fantastic.

But Suzuko was worried about her parents back in Japan.  Her mom was 84 and her dad was 86, and her Mom was starting to show signs of Alzheimer’s. We talked and agreed that Suzuko would spend the summer of 09 in Japan, and I and the dogs would remain in Atlanta. I had been checking the Navy Employment site and found two jobs in Japan, one a GS13 and one a GS 12. I applied for the senior position, but didn’t get selected, so I mostly just forgot about it.  One day towards the end of January 2009, I got a call from the HRO in Yokosuka, Japan and they wanted to know if I still was interested in interviewing for a position in Japan. I said sure, but didn’t want to raise any false hopes for Suzuko, so I didn’t tell her.  I did a telephone interview and then the day after I returned from the Marti Paws parade, they offered me the position. 

That night after we had finished our evening prayers, Suzuko and I were talking about her going home for the summer.  She was worried about the dogs and how would I take care of them and go to work.  I said, well I have this plan. What do you think?  I gave her a copy of the e-mail where I had been accepted for the position in Japan.  It was a wonderful surprise and life was getting better again.

We were very lucky to sell our house on such short notice and we packed up a lot of furniture and things that went into storage. We brought what we thought would be the bare essentials; got ours and the dogs tickets, and the Marshall family was on a plane to Japan on June 6^th 2009.

My friend John and his wife Yukino met us at the Tokyo airport with their two vehicles.  We unpacked the dogs and stowed the crates and luggage in one and we all jumped into his big Van to make the three hour drive to the base.  For the next 18 days the dogs lived in the Base kennels and we in the Navy Lodge. We found a house, bought a car and went through indoctrination in a record time.  We moved into our new house in Yokosuka Japan on the 19^th day we were here and I brought the dogs to our place that evening.

It’s a pretty big house by Japanese standards, 1900 square feet (but we had 3,800 sq ft at Atlanta) so there was some adjusting.  I had to divide the small back yard in half, one half for the dogs and one half for Suzuko’s gardens. But we manage.  Daily evening walks, twice on Sat and down to the Naval Base ball parks on Sunday for off-leash running and exercise.  For the next two years, life was good.

Hope and Suzuko at the Kanagawa Prefecture Flower Park.  (I have so many pictures
of Hope at this park.  She really liked this place, but I had to keep her on the leash, as
the one time I let her off leash, she ran over and laid down and rolled all over the flowers. 
She really enjoyed those flower beds.)

Suzuko, Shogun3 and Hope at the Naval Base ball parks.

                Hope liked to lie in the sun on the back porch.

              Hope snuggling down for a cool winter’s evening.

Here is Hope working her magic with my Mother-in-Law when we had Mom’s birthday
party at our house.  Hope sat right at her feet almost the whole afternoon.

Hope met so many people on our walks.  Shogun3 and Dolly became really well known, but more especially, Hope was the main attraction in my three-ring Doberman circus.  People were amazed by her calm gentle nature. I carried her book with me for the first several weeks explaining her story to the people we met. They cried at her abuse story and they laughed about her great spirit as she overcame that.  They called her, “Hope, O Ba Chan”, (which means Honorable grandmother), and they all loved her.  She went with me wherever I went and was a great traveler that enjoyed the camping trips and being out in the woods and parks. 

Around January of this year Hope started slowing down.  Then she got really lethargic and I took her to the Vet, who changed her thyroid medicine, and she perked back up. For the last few months she was on a roll.  Always wanting to go for a walk, I started taking her by herself, so I could devote more time to being with her, as I sensed her time might be near.  But she kept going, like the energizer bunny.  I made some short videos of her in March and posted them on face book.  I had a terrible cold that lasted for about two weeks, and as I reviewed the videos, I sounded terrible, wheezing terribly.  Hope looked great with her strange gait she had developed, but she was strong.  She pulled me like a sled dog for a while and I was hard pressed to keep up with her.

We enjoyed our walks, Hope always greeting her friends, and play-bowing to the other dogs.  She was so active I started to forget that bad feeling I had in January. She had slimmed down quite a bit form when she first got in Japan and for an old girl she was in pretty good shape. Hope greeted me at the front door every day when I got home, with a nose nudge and a wagging nub.  I did a quick clothes change and then we would be out the door.  When we got back, she rested while I took the other two out. Suzuko would usually have supper on the table when I got back with Shogun and Dolly, and it was funny how Hope could tell when I was finished eating.  If I sat too long skimming over the evening paper or with a drink at the dining table, she would chastise me with her two bark command.  “Where’s our supper?” the bark said.  I would reply, “Hungry?” and all three of them muster up right next to me, urging me to get up from the table with their antics.

She had this habit of when I rubbed her just above her nubby tail, she would dance back and forth on her hind legs, and look at me with those big brown eyes saying don't stop and she would be Dancing, Dancing.  For the first time in a long time she did that again.  I told Suzuko, look at Hope, she hasn't danced for me since New Years.

April 30, 2011 started out like any other Saturday. This morning Suzuko and I took her and the other two for a walk, and the flowers were so beautiful, the sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day, and we all had a great time looking at the cherry blossoms and flowers. I can't believe such a perfect day could end with such pain and hurt and tears.

That evening I was upstairs watching TV, and Suzuko was chanting in our Buddhist Shrine room, when she called up to me.  I heard the urgency in her voice, so I ran downstairs to see what was the matter.

Suzuko said Hope had walked over and sort of just collapsed, and soiled her diaper (she has worn a diaper around the house for about a year now because as she got older, she leaked; wasn't a big deal.)  I kneeled down next to Hope and she didn't have the strength to get up.  Changed her diaper and sat with her for a few minutes and then she wanted to get up and I helped her over to her favorite futon, but she seems to be breathing hard.  She laid down there and put her head in my lap and while Suzuko and I were both holding her and trying to sooth her.  Hope let out a little cry, and for a bit seemed like she couldn’t breathe, and then she was gone. 9:25 PM, Sat night, April 30, 2011.

There have been 3 Doberman Shoguns so far; I have seen many Apollo’s and a couple of Sashas. The point I am trying to make is there have been many dogs with shared names, but in my lifetime, I have only known one HOPE. She and I had some glorious and fun times together. She was my constant companion for the past decade.  She really rescued me and many others in this life, not the other way around. When she was with those Veterans, Military Retirees, and all the everyday people she met, Hope showed me how to give unconditional love and how to make complete strangers smile.

We have received so many condolence cards and e-mails about Hope’s passing. I know many of you have suffered the loss of one of our furry, four-legged kids and I thank all of you for your kind words and praise for her. Please remember how much Hope meant to all of the past and present Gulf Coast Doberman Rescue family, and how much she has done for Animal Rescue.

My friend Dick-san  nick-named her “The Hopester, because she could be such fun. When she raised her imperial head to me, or looked at me with those Bette Davis eyes, I called her the Divine Ms Hope, the one and only Big, Blue, and Beautiful Doberman that will live on in my heart forever.  Dancing, Dancing, across the Rainbow Bridge. Go fetch the other dogs and wait for me girl.

Hope, Dad, and Shogun2

Ralph G. Marshall

25 March 2011

Gulf Coast Doberman Rescue Volunteer

Japan Division

A few post scripts to Hope’s story:

Ps# 1:

Earlier in this story, I mentioned the time Kim from GCDR and another lady (Ms Marilyn David) came to my house and took Hope to Tulane University.  I didn’t find out the below information until all the condolence cards and e-mails arrived after Hope crossed over the Bridge and Ms Marilyn sent me this note:

Ralph,

I know you are hurting. I just suddenly lost my first dog and rescue, 13-year-old Razor, three weeks ago and my heart is still broken. I know Hope made a big impact on the world with the therapy work and presentations you did as a team, but I would like to tell you Hope made a further impact that you may not know about. Hope was responsible for the first Animal Law course being taught at Tulane Law School for four years, and now it seems to be a permanent course offering there. She has influenced the lives of innumerable young law students, who will be attorneys, judges, and prosecutors, influencing how animals are treated in our society and hopefully helping to punish animal abusers.

Here's how it came about. When Hope was still in GCDR rehabilitating, Kim Capella-Gowland called me (an attorney) for help a few days before trial because she was concerned the local prosecutors were not taking Hope's abuse seriously. Hope's fellow Doberman had been starved to death by a 7th-grade special education teacher, and Hope was so near death when rescued that Kim had not thought she would survive. Yet the prosecutor only planned to ask the judge for a $500 fine and planned to allow Hope to be returned to her abusive owner. I managed to get help from the national experts to assist Kim and me -- attorneys and press-liaisons from the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which I belonged to. There's a back story behind it all, but the teacher ended up with a suspended prison sentence, a fine, restitution of rehabilitation costs, and giving up all rights to own dogs in the city.

Afterward, Kim got an invite from the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund Chapter at my alma mater, Tulane Law School, to give a presentation on Hope's story, and she invited me along to speak on how we had prepared the legal strategy for the trial. You may remember that night when Kim and I stopped by your home to pick up Hope to go with us, and I met you and Suzuko then.

After that, the students contacted me incessantly for almost 2 years, asking me to develop and teach an Animal Law course at the law school. Finally, I decided to get the new course approved by the faculty, and taught it as Adjunct Associate Professor of Law from 2006 - 2010. Now someone else is teaching it, and the students currently taking it may not be aware of how the ground-breaking course was pioneered all because of Hope, but I would like for us to remember. Hope's legacy still lives on in those students, each time it is taught.

Marilyn David

Ps #2:    As I re-read this story, I realized I had omitted a major part not only of Hope’s story, but a major part of all the dogs’ stories. I hope this short post script makes up for that.

To Suzuko, my Dearest Wife;

You have tirelessly supported me in all our rescue efforts.  It was easy for me to bring the dogs home.  I could go to work and missed the day in and day out care-giving that you always provided for them.  Several times I had to go on TAD travel for weeks on end and you took care of them so well, all by yourself. I know there were some very hard times for you, but you never complained much, and most importantly you continued to love me and them.  Without you, these dogs would never have survived. Day after day, when I couldn’t be there, you took on the job of taking care of not only our dogs, but all the fosters and temp-stay dogs that showed up at our house. Thank you for your gentleness, your commitment and your endless love. Maybe I don’t tell you enough, but I truly love you very much and all the dogs have loved you too.

                     Suzuko with Sasha, a gentle sweet foster.

Suzuko with Shogun2, Trixie, and Hope.

Suzuko w/ Trixie, Hope, Shogun2 and Dolly