This is a very difficult story to write. Autumn was the heart of our family. She was with us almost 15 1/2 years. She came to us when she was about 4 months old. Autumn came into our home and made friends right away with our other dogs. During her time here Autumn saw 20 senior/special needs come and go in our home. We adopt senior and special needs dogs. Many of the seniors were only here a short time as they were older and had health issues. Autumn learned to know each one of them. It seemed when they came here to live Autumn made it her job to make them feel at home and safe.
Autumn loved John and I so much. John was her playmate and the person that carried her around all the time. I was her snuggle buddy. John said from early on that she would look at me when I was talking and it seemed she understood everything I was saying. My friend Sue was here visiting one day and said the same thing. She loved her toys but mostly her yellow stuffed dog and her yellow duck. She carried the dog with her and would hide it. She and John would play fetch with her yellow duck and when she got the duck she would shake it and throw it up in the air. It was so funny.
Autumn loved her home here, she loved her fenced yard, she loved her bucket. John won a raffle at QVC while he was working there. It was a red enamel bucket filled with chocolate candy. We put the empty bucket on the floor and she jumped in it. For all these years she loved to sit in that bucket. We put blankets in there for her to nap. She spent so much time in that bucket! She had lots of dog beds but the bucket was her favorite.
When Autumn was about 2 years old we were outside and a hawk swooped down and tried to get her! I grabbed her and went inside. I was petrified. I did some research and finally got in touch with a wild life expert Jack Hubley from WGAL. I spoke with him and he invited us to come to the studio when he was doing a segment on birds of prey. We went there and she and I were on the segment with Jack and his injured hawk. Jack said I was the first “human” guest on his show. The only reason that happened was because I accompanied “the star” Autumn Manker.
Almost 4 years ago Autumn had surgery to remove a cancer in her anal gland. After that she developed a severe staph infection. She had that infection for months. No treatment seemed to work. We finally found an animal dermatologist and she got over it. For months she wore a plastic collar so she would not scratch and she never complained. She was finally well! Then about 1 1/2 years ago a lump appeared in the other anal gland. We opted not to do another surgery as maybe it wasn’t cancer as it didn’t grow and she was older and we didn’t want her to go through that. Around Easter 2025 she started to get picky eating and stumbled a little sometimes. We took her right to the vet and her blood work was terrible and the vet felt sure the cancer had returned. I had prayed that when her end came it would be quick. We decided to put her down right away to spare her suffering. She was such a good girl we would not let her suffer. John held her and I rubbed her neck. We told her that she was okay and she would be young again. We told her all her “furkid” friends would be waiting for her at the Rainbow Bridge. In seconds our precious little girl was gone. We know she gained her Angel wings that day. She is buried in our back yard with our other dogs.
It is so hard for us without her and her 2 bothers Sam and Murphy and her sister Hailee miss her so much too. They look and look for her. It is hard to imagine that a little Yorkie could mean so much to so many people and other animals.
Words that describe Autumn the best are,
gentle, strong, determined, funny, a great companion, a friend and most of all loving. She loved with all her heart!
| Autumn, Auti |
| April 22, 2025 |
| John and Vicki Manker |