I received Irving as an almost 1 year old puppy in the service dog training program at my high school. We spent nearly a year side by side every day, going to class, football games, and other life events, including my high school graduation (with his own miniature stole)! A few months after I graduated, he was career changed, meaning he was not quite cut out for the service dog life, but could be a wonderful pet. I then started my undergraduate degree, where we hang out during long study nights and he mentored younger service dogs in training.I knew now that I was officially an adult, I wanted to be responsible about pet ownership, so I started to do research into pet insurance. I enrolled both of my dogs, but at the screening appointment to start coverage Irving’s original tumor was discovered, making it a pre-existing condition and therefore not eligible to be covered by pet insurance. I was working during my undergraduate degree and was able to cover his 1st surgery, hoping that that would be the last we would see of his cancer. Unfortunately, a couple years later, I felt his scar from his previous surgery start to “thicken”, and sure enough the cancer had started to grow back. By this point, I had started medical school, so funds were tight, but I was able to pull together enough for another tumor removal surgery, only to find out that it