Personal-ized4u was started in memory of our beloved Great Dane, Paddy. You’ll find her picture on the logo.

I was raised around dogs, ranch and performing animals and when Kyle and I married we added a Great Dane to the family. That Great Dane was Paddy. Having never had a Dane before, we were in for a great surprise. Although we both had many pets or animals in our lives before Paddy, there was something special about her. She was larger than life and she came into our lives right before several tragedies happened. My oldest daughter’s father died, then my twin brother broke his back and died 6 weeks later, My mother became very ill and eventually died and I had both of my parents in and out of the hospital several times that year.

Then, suddenly I had to have emergency surgery on my right lung. Three months later I had emergency lung surgery on the left lung. This left me unable to work and then Kyle was laid off at Christmas. This left us no way to care for Paddy. I started looking for a new home for her because I knew that it was inevitable that we would end up without our home and no rental would let Paddy in.

I placed an ad in the paper and had calls from several states for the price of $800.00 as this dog was professionally trained by me and was perfect in every way; she had no bad habits. She was only 2.5 years old.

I got a call from a couple that we had met a year earlier that had two Great Danes who said that her friend had a Mastiff puppy and that she would love to have Paddy. I was even told that she would have her own room that her current bed would fit in and promised that she would be kept indoors and be able to maintain her current lifestyle.

The best gift of all! We would be able to see her…I was so grateful that I decided to give her the dog.

The day Paddy left I was still sore from lung surgery. The couple came in to learn her commands so that they knew how to speak to her so she would understand and so that they could ask me any questions while they were there. I wrote them all down and went over them ten times. The time came when I asked Paddy if she wanted to go “Bye Bye”. She knew something was wrong because we never took her bed and dishes. Kyle walked out front to show them how to use her “Potty” command and he came in the house to ask if I wanted to say goodbye…the tears started rolling ( I tear up to this day even writing this). I walked outside and she got in the car and turned her head around while the saddest face I’ve ever seen in my life watched me until they were completely out of sight.

Devastated, the next day I called and they would not answer my call. I called the mutual friends and told them that the new owners were not answering my calls. This went on for several months….we never saw or heard from them again and never saw Paddy again either. We looked for and tried to find Paddy for at least 6 more years.

In 2003, I had lung surgery again on the right lung. I was visited in the hospital by two different service dogs. I really looked forward to the pet visits each day because it gave me something to get excited about for those 14 lonely days.

It was while I was in the hospital and reflecting on my life that I decided I was going to follow my passion and honor Paddy.

Hurricane Katrina only made me more determined to follow my passion about pets and their people. People suffered and died because they couldn’t take their pets before, during and after the hurricane. I saw stories of people reunited with their pets years after Katrina and the emotion, love and compassion are so powerful they cannot be measured or put into words.

In honor of Paddy, I will donate a portion of each sale to animal rescue or other pet charities that will try to help keep pets and their people together in tough times. I believe this can make a huge difference in people’s lives.

I will eventually add a “Paddy Stories” page to the website for all to read and see why she was so special to us.

Thank you
Vicki