09/18/2026
It is with such a broken heart and still in disbelief that I share that we had to say goodbye to our best pal Vigo last week.
He started stumbling a little and then more just a few weeks ago and progressed to not being able to walk at all by the end. After progressive testing and ultimately an MRI it turned out he had a tumor on his brain stem. To say he is missed is an understatement.
Vigo was bred to be a service dog by PADS Dogs in Burnaby and we started off as his puppy sitters and co-raisers through Covid. I had a hard time living in Vancouver and Vigo became my pal and saving grace there. He was a bit nervous about some things in the world and so he didn’t qualify to be a service dog ultimately and while PADS tried to place him in a couple other homes as a “very important pet” it just didnt work out and he ultimately got to come back to us forever.
Vigo got to serve many of your dogs though, helping them over the years with socialization or reactivity and was of course our best adventure pal. We could not have asked for a better bike, ski, horse, hike or camping dog.
He wasn’t perfect though 🙃 he liked to eat so many things, fruit was his favorite. The house and car always had to be immaculately food proofed. So moving to Nelson, the fruit-on-the-ground capital of the world was heaven for him. He hated skunks, drooled gallons and was so great with kids. I mourn massively that he is not going to get to be the stellar big brother I was excited to watch him become. It just really really sucks.
So my dear friends and clients, please give your furry ones an extra loving scratch, ball throw, snack or space today for me please. You just never know how much time you have.
In loving memory of Vigo. The holes you leave in our home are everywhere bud and will be felt for a long, long time. Thanks for being the sweetest, cuddliest, adventure pal we could have hoped for. ❤️💕❤️
