I was speaking to a kindergarten mom I met yesterday when we discovered a mutual love of animals. At the point at which I asked Jennifer if she had any pets, my new friend became very quiet and tears began to well up in her eyes.

That's when the story of Elsa, her family's beloved Pomeranian pup began to unfold. Jennifer, her fiancee and her little daughter were crazy about this tiny bundle of energy and love. They decided they’d rather not crate Elsa when they were out of the house, so Jennifer’s fiancee got to work on a special gate that would allow the pup to have the kitchen to herself while staying safe at the same time.

They also took into consideration the special friendship that the pup and the family’s cat, ‘Angel’ had when making this decision as these two played constantly. The gate was made in a very thoughtful manner. The slats were fashioned close enough to make sure the Pomeranian's small feet and face were not at risk of being caught. What the family never considered (and I erroneously thought was only a cat/kitten problem) was that the pup’s tags could get caught in those carefully made slats. Jennifer's fiancée came home one day to find a very sad sight. The family surmised that that while Elsa played ‘catch me ’ with Angel, her rabies tag came squarely down into the wood. Because it is in the shape of a heart and pointed, the tag acted as a spike and Elsa hung herself. One in a million chance perhaps, for that tag to land so perfectly in the space between the homemade slats, but as Jennifer said 'it was a chance Elsa would never take again'.

Jennifer opened up her heart to a complete stranger for one reason. She wanted as many people as possible to know what she learned the hard way. Jennifer thought that if sharing Elsa’s story would save at least one dog, then her death would not have been in vain.

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Written by Diane Novak