For the past three years, Calvin, a 6-year-old Chesapeake Bay/Golden Retriever mix, has been a faithful and loving companion for a military family living in Pacific.
Katie Garberding, a longtime resident, says her daughter Helen’s family got Calvin in 2010.
“Calvin belonged to my other daughter, Emily, but she couldn’t have him anymore because she moved into an apartment,” Garberding said. “So he moved in with Helen.”
Over the next three years, Calvin and the family’s three children – Thomas, 11, Matthew, 6, and Lily, 4 – cemented a strong bond with the dog.
“From the day he moved in those kids were his buddies,” she said. “Lilly is his baby. They were home schooled, so he went everywhere with them.”
A few months ago, when Garberding’s son-in-law, Ryan, received orders transferring him from Fort Lewis to Belgium, everything looked to be in order for Calvin to make the move to Europe with his family.
But the plans went awry.
Because all their belongings, including the family car, were in transport to Belgium, the family was forced to rent a car. When the vehicle was struck in a hit-and-run accident, Garberding said, they were forced to fork out $1,500 in damages to their rental.
The family received another blow when they went down to get Calvin’s airline ticket and found out the price quoted to get Calvin to Europe was wrong.
“They said it was for 100 pounds, but they forgot to include his kennel,” Garberding said. “The ticket went from being $700 and some dollars to $1,250, and they just couldn’t do it.”
Devastated, the family had to leave Calvin with Garberding when they left on Feb. 1.
“(Calvin) was depressed,” Garberding said. “One of the things that was really sad was, we do a lot of things out in the garage with the door open. He would go out with us and go to the edge of the driveway and sit. And when the cars drove by he would see ones that resembled my daughter’s car, and he would wag his tail and whine and then sit down when they drove by.”
Initially, Garberding said she was resigned to having Calvin stay with her until the family returned in three years. But soon she realized that she had to find a way to reunite the family with Calvin.
Garberding started a Facebook page for Calvin and begin lobbying for donations to help buy an airline ticket for Calvin, as well as get the health inspections he needed to rejoin his family in Belgium.
Soon, Garberding had received more than $1,000 in donations.
This past week the arrangements were made and Calvin received his OK from the USDA to fly to Europe to be reunited with his family.
“On Tuesday he went and got his puppy passport stamped and Wednesday he arrived in Amsterdam (a 2 1/2 hour drive from the families’ home),” Garberding said. “They needed to be together.”
