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Founders
Canine Campus (formerly Top Dog Daycare) Inspiration: Saede
Mae
Canine Campus Franchise Founders,
Tom and Joelle Hilfers, were lucky enough to pick Saede Mae
as their very first canine kid.
The following are excerpts from a letter Joelle wrote after
the Hilfers lost Saede Mae to bone cancer in 2003:
Saede Mae Hilfers was born on September 22, 1997. Her mommy
weighed in at 170 pounds, her daddy was a whopping 210 pounds.
Saede only hit about 150 pounds at her max weight, probably
from playing so much at the daycare. She had a very "strong"
personality....o.k., she was a Piece of Work! But I loved
her, of course. Saede Mae was a one-of-a-kind!
Saede was a Daddy's Girl... she and Tom were virtually inseparable.
In fact, Tom slept with her every night the last few months
of her short life. She never really did like our kids -- she
came first, so she always thought of herself as "alpha"
to them, no matter what we tried. Saede went through basic
obedience training, and I remember one night at class (I took
her through to try to establish my Alpha with her) she let
me "work her" for about 30 minutes, then she laid
down in the middle of the class and wouldn't get up the rest
of the hour. She even growled at me when I tried to get her
up (told ya she had a mind of her own!).
I will never forget driving my car behind Tom in his truck,
with Saede sitting right next to him on the front seat. It
was very cute -- she looked human, and even bigger than Tom,
sitting next to him. Tom took her just about everywhere with
him in that truck.Of course, she wouldn't get into it herself;
she would put her big front paws on the seat and look back
like, "I need help!" Tom would scoop up her heavy
backside and lift her into his truck. I, however, know she
could have EASILY jumped in on her own. I saw her one time
clear a 4-foot gate at the vet hospital. She got loose from
the vet techs in the back (when she was there for a check-up)
and ran through the long hallways like a maniac until she
found the front door!
Much to our horror, she was diagnosed with bone cancer in
November, 2002. Doctors told us she had about 3 months to
live.We visited the amputation option, chemotherapy, and other
treatments, but decided she was too proud to go out without
her whole body.The bone cancer was actually first detected
by one of our employees on the daycare playground because
she was limping.Tom rushed Saede to the vet that day -- we
both thought for sure it was another hip or knee problem (she
had already had knee replacement surgery). We were wrong.
Saede told us the day she was ready to die... the look on
her gentle, giant face said it all. She was more concerned
about us (mostly Tom), than she was about leaving us. That
Sunday during Labor Day weekend of 2003 was one of the worst
days of my life... Tom and I held her as she slipped off to
eternal sleep. God rest her big soul.
We will meet again in Heaven, big girl!
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