In High Tide Or Low Tide, I’ll Be By Your Side.
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To love unconditionally is a term used often to describe a dog’s undying devotion to humans. Believe it or not, there are thousands of humans who also love, unconditionally. –by Anna Cooke
R
OBERT E. VIERCK WAS A VIETNAM VETERAN, having served in the United States Navy from 1964 to 1968. During the last few years of his life, he lived on a sailboat behind the C. W. (Bill) Young VA Medical
Center in St. Petersburg. Living on the water gave him some peace. The proximity of his floating home to the VA Medical Center provided easy access for his medical needs. His only fam- ily was his dog Arrow, who lived on the boat with him. Ron Bittaker, co-owner of Paws Inn Paradise, a dog day-
care and boarding facility in Pinellas Park, is known for his big heart, especially when it comes to dogs or veterans. It’s not unusual for the folks who work at the VA Medical Center to call on Ron whenever they have a special situation that involves a dog. Sometimes it’s to provide temporary boarding for the dog while the veteran undergoes surgery or some other medical treatment that requires a brief stay in the hospital. Other times, it may be long term, for when a veteran is in the care of hos- pice. Ron graciously and unceremoniously provides this as a service to the men and women who have served in the military. More often than not, many of the veterans who need this type of assistance are not in a financial position to pay for boarding. Keeping families together, whenever possible, and dogs out of shelters, are two priorities for Ron and his staff. Many people who work or volunteer in dog rescue already know this about Ron.
When Mr. Vierck, who had cancer, was admitted to the VA
hospital early last year, he left Arrow behind on his boat. After being called by the VA, Ron took his dinghy out to the sailboat to assess the situation. Having never been off the boat, Arrow was its protector and did not take kindly, at all, to a stranger floating around the perimeter. So, every day for three weeks, Ron visited the sailboat to feed Arrow. “I just put the food up on the boat. I never actually went on the boat.”
40 THE NEW BARKER
Arrow, (left) the only family a Vietnam Veteran had, until Ron Bittaker and his staff and family came along to help. Arrow lived aboard the sail- boat (below) with her human, until it capsized in a storm.
The day after a line of storms moved off the Gulf across the
Tampa Bay area, Ron anxiously visited the sailboat, only to find it capsized. Arrow was still on the boat. Ron put in a call to Boat US, then determined that Arrow would need to be sedated in order to remove her from the boat. The dog was still guarding her home. Arrow took the hotdogs willingly, and Ron and his nephew Andy waited for the drugs to take effect. “Once Arrow was out, we lifted her off the boat and immediately took her to Medicine River Animal Hospital in Madeira Beach, where she was seen by Dr. Shauna Green,” said Ron. In the meantime, Boat US was on its way to the scene of
the capsized boat with not one, but two boats to assist. It took a total of six hours to bail out the water and finally right the boat. Sadly, the weathered old boat had seen better days. Boat US refused to take any money from Ron for their work.
www.TheNewBarker.com
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