Holly: A dog with a heart so big she needed a pacemaker

Digital paintings of my best garden buddy Holly who needed a pacemaker installed more than three years ago.

She was a very, very good girl

Let me introduce you to my best friend, Holly. The dog with a heart so big she needed a pacemaker. Actually, make that two pacemakers. The first pacemaker’s battery began to run out after serving her well for almost 4 years, so she had to have a second one installed.

We had to say goodbye to Holly Sunday, April 28th, 2024. It was one of the hardest things my wife and I ever had to do. Sixteen years as a loving part of our family, makes saying goodbye almost unbearable.

But let me tell you about Holly, her pacemakers and her love for life and our garden.

More recently, knowing that the end was near, I began to document her life more and thought B&W images worked best. This is her most recently, still with that puppy inquisitive look.

The original pacemaker operation involved inserting a wire into the dog’s main artery in her neck and running a wire into the malfunctioning heart chamber where it is attached to the wall of the heart. Then, the wire is attached to a pacemaker, turned on and tucked away just under the dog’s skin on her shoulder where it sends electrical impulses to the heart and keeps my little girl alive.

She was quite the character. From the day we got the little bundle of energy she’s been by my side. I remember spending the first night with her in the basement sleeping side by side on the couch. At that point she was not house trained so we made many trips outside that night.

For years we shared our spring and summer mornings together out in the garden. Me with my coffee in hand, and her, vigilantly watching over the garden to ensure no intruder should appear.

The chipmunks, red, grey and black squirrels are all okay. In fact, they are all her little buddies. But our neighbourhood fox, a rabbit or a deer, well they are not welcome and will get the official send off with a frantic series of warning barks.

Warning of what, we’re not quite sure.

We always kept her on a leashing the garden. A long one mind you, where she could run from one end of the yard to the other. The leash just gently stopped her from potentially chasing any wild animals.

Mornings together on the patio, me with my coffee and her watching out for Woodland visitors to the garden.

In more than 12 years as the garden watchdog, Holly has not killed or even injured a single garden friend or foe.

She’s literally one-of-a-kind. A miniature Golden is the best description of her. Weighing in at about 35 pounds with a black nose and the cutest ears anyone has ever seen, this little Humane Society rescue still thought she was a puppy right up until the end.

At least in the mornings. That’s when she was all spunk. By mid-day, after her walk, she was ready to begin her day-long nap which lasts into the evening with only a short burst of energy right around dinner time.

Age catches up with all of us and Holly was no different. Most people who met her still thought she was a puppy, or at least many years younger than her age.

Holly wasn’t always full of energy. Several years ago we thought we were going to lose her. After she stopped eating and lost a lot of her spunk we rushed her off to our local vet only to find out her heart was in rough shape. Tests showed it had dropped to only 31 beats a minute (dogs usually clip along at about 100-plus beats a minute) and had become quite enlarged.

Several tests and veterinarian visits landed us at a specialized animal hospital where we met Dr. Minors, an animal cardiologist and surgeon who explained that one of the chambers in Holly’s heart was misfiring and that she would be a perfect candidate for a pacemaker.

Here pacemaker seen here in an xray and the wire that runs through a major artery in her neck and attaches to the inside of her heart.

The operation had to be scheduled for weeks down the road. In the meantime, a number of tense weeks passed where Holly’s heart would cut out and cause her to faint for a few seconds before recovering. On the day of the operation, we said our goodbyes and handed her off to Dr. Minors and her team of cardiac specialists.

The operation involves inserting a wire into the dog’s main artery in her neck and running a wire into the malfunctioning heart chamber where it is attached to the wall of the heart. Then, the wire is attached to a pacemaker, turned on and tucked away just under the dog’s skin on her shoulder where it sends electrical impulses to the heart and keeps my little girl alive.

Two days later she was out of the hospital and within a week or two right back to her old self.

Now, she wears her pacemaker on her shoulder just beneath the skin for all to check out whenever I tell them about it.

Holly outside on her table after her second operation to replace her pacemaker after the first one’s battery began to run out..

And I never passed up the opportunity to fill people in about our little bionic puppy named Holly. Afterall, we both travelled a similar path – me a double by-pass survivor and her with her pacemaker.

My little buddy, who grew old along with us, seemed just as happy as I did to sit quietly and take in the early morning sounds of the garden waking up.

Me with my coffee, and her, ever vigilant, eagerly waiting to awaken that inner puppy with a warning bark or two before nap time.

Holly at a full run at one of the local dog parks. She certainly loved running free through the tall grasses.

Be prepared for the high cost of pet care

On a side note: My wife and I were lucky enough to be in a financial position to proceed with Holly’s treatment which, as you may have guessed, was quite expensive.

Having your own cardiac surgeon comes at a price, and pacemakers, even used ones, do not come cheap. We believe that having a pet comes with a lot of responsibility and that includes a financial commitment to care for the animal the best you can. Providing basic flea, tick and heartworm medication such as Advantage is really only the beginning of the regular costs of sharing your life with a pet, be it a dog or a cat. Let’s not even get into pet supplies and accessories. A younger couple in a different stage of life may not have been able to afford the health care Holly needed.

We did not have health care insurance for Holly, but I know of a co-worker who used her insurance several times when her rather young dog developed eye and joint problems that required surgeries. If you think you might be forced to make a difficult decision if your pet became ill or just needed major surgery, consider purchasing health insurance for your pet. Choosing between life and finances is not a position you want to be in.

Holly relaxing with one of her little friends on the patio.

Holly a fighter to the end

About two years ago we discovered a lump on Holly’s shoulder. Tests showed that it was likely cancer and we were told that she might have as little as six months to live. Well, our little trooper survived for almost two years after the diagnosis.

Her favourite time of the day was spending mornings out in the garden with me enjoying the birds and the wildlife.

I like to think she was the protector of the little chipmunks and squirrels that were her friends in the garden, and for as long as she was around, they had a friend and a protector in the little rescue dog with a heart so big she needed a pacemaker to keep it going.

She may be gone now but she will not be forgotten. Every time I have my coffee outdoors in the garden, I think of her and how much she loved our garden time together.

Always be kind to animals, whether they are your pets or garden visitors.