When retired carpenter David Fine was told he had cancer, his first priority was to make sure his beloved dog, Babs, would have a good home if the worst happened. His search is ongoing, though he has shortlisted four would-be new families for the dog.
“Around nine months ago, I started having chest pains,” Mr. Fine told The Epoch Times. “After about four months, [the doctors] finally found out it was stage four lung cancer. And that’s where we stand now.”
After dreaming about retirement for many years, Mr. Fine of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, stopped work for good in 2020. He wanted to see more of the country, so he bought a camper van and journeyed to South Dakota and Wyoming with his pet dog. However, when he reached some 100 miles south of Yellowstone National Park—number one on his bucket list—he began to feel unwell and had to return home.
“That trip was six of the best weeks of my life,” he said, remembering the Black Hills Forest in South Dakota. “It was beautiful out there; it was spectacular. The night skies were awesome. The scenery, you know, I had the whole side of a mountain to myself, and Babs was out there running.”
Despite his diagnosis, and with medics telling him he likely has just six months to live, Mr. Fine hasn’t lost his hopeful nature.
“Right now, it doesn’t affect me too bad,” he said, adding that he still hopes to get to Yellowstone for July and August, before coming home to “wait and see what happens.”
His biggest fear is that the 12-year-old shar pei-boxer mix, who’s been with him since she was a puppy, might think he’s abandoned her.
“I’m not going to give her up until I absolutely have to,“ he said. ”I’ve had some hospice workers volunteer to come in and take care of me when the time comes, right in my apartment, so my dog can stay with me right up until the end, which is something I really want. I want to have her close; I don’t want her to think I’ve given up on her.”
Mr. Fine has narrowed his list of possible new owners for Babs down to about four different people. Choosing a suitable fit, though, requires proper consideration because not only is she special to him, but the dominant, “alpha” dog who grew up on a farm does not get along with other animals, including other dogs.
Babs does, however, get on “great” with people, says Mr. Fine.
“How do you pick a new parent for your child?” he asked. “Nobody’s going to be perfect, but she deserves a good life where she’s safe and protected.
“She’s such a good dog. She’s so good with people and so good in the house. I'd be afraid of young children thinking she’s a pony or something like that and trying to climb aboard or playing rough with her, and she doesn’t understand the difference between playing and aggression.”
Babs came into Mr. Fine’s life in 2014 after her breeder-owners who lived in Newport, Rhode Island, had difficulties with her. The vet wanted to put her down, says Mr. Fine, but a person who was renting his garage and knew the breeders asked if they could bring the dog to his place to save her life.
“She ended up on my property, in the garage,“ he said. ”It has a dirt floor. She is a digger, and she kept digging her way out. I had a little fishing hole up in the backyard that I used to go to, and she started coming with me.”
However, one night, it was rainy and cold, and Babs was outside. Mr. Fine opened the door and let her in.
“She adopted me,” he said.
The pair have now been together for 10 years.
“I do talk to her, and it sounds crazy, but she understands,” Mr. Fine said. “I ask her yes or no questions, and if the answer is ‘yes,’ she blinks—it’s unbelievable. She’s very intelligent.”
“[It was] just supposed to be this local thing, and it’s turned into a worldwide phenomenon. I was just amazed,” Mr. Fine said, going on to explain that the reaction has renewed his faith in people. At the same time, however, he won’t give his dog away to anyone he hasn’t met in person. The plan, for now, is to secure the best possible new home for Babs, should she need one.
Regarding his treatment, Mr. Fine says that undergoing an intensive program would be unlikely to give him much more time and would make him very sick until he died. Ms. Mann keeps in touch with Mr. Fine regularly.
“He told me that he went to the doctor this past week, and the doctor said the cancer has not spread, which is good because he’s not doing any treatments at the moment,” Ms. Mann told The Epoch Times. “He thinks maybe all the prayers he’s been getting has been helping him stay the way it is, instead of getting any worse. Obviously, he’s not getting any better, but he hasn’t gotten any worse.”
Right now, Mr. Fine is focusing on one thing at a time. His oldest niece is getting married on June 15, so that’s his first goal, and he’s hopeful he'll make it to the wedding.
“Then, I’m going to see if we can get out to Yellowstone for a month, and if I have to come home, I have to come home,” he said. “I’m going to keep living my life the way I can. We'll see what happens.”
However, he says he doesn’t know how his dog will be affected after he’s gone:
“I’m telling people, you can’t let her off the leash until you are completely bonded in with her because she will end up in my backyard no matter what. She'll be sitting here at my door ... and I won’t be here,” he said.
