Who is Frannie and What’s Her Story?

        Frannie is a golden retriever that has a heartbreaking backstory, and that of being an obese 125-pound dog. A healthy female dog of her breed would typically weigh 55-65 pounds, and she was twice that which made it extremely difficult for Frannie to do much of anything including walking or even simply standing up. Luckily a kindhearted veterinary student, Annika Bram, decided to save Frannie from being euthanized due to her severe obesity which caused a multitude of mobility issues that prevented her from experiencing being a normal dog. Frannie couldn’t even stand up without assistance from a harness, and Bram said that she didn’t have any energy left after her health was neglected for far too long. Bram decided that she wanted to give Frannie the life she deserved to live and give her the chance to live a real dog life, not laying around and waiting to be euthanized for something that wasn’t even her fault.

Frannie’s Story Gains Attention on Social Media

         To encourage the weight loss journey of Frannie and to raise awareness of the neglect that dogs in modern society face, Bram started a Tiktok account dedicated to documenting this and sharing her message with the title, Frannie’s Fight. Many viewers on social media began to feel sympathy for Frannie and follow along with her on her weight loss journey to recovery and true happiness, and the account gained a rather big following. One aspect of Frannie’s story that resonated with me, as a viewer, was the fact that when Bram first rescued Frannie, she had poor mobility she constantly sat on her tail for balance and used it to break her fall when sitting down. This constant use of her tail being stuck under her caused almost all of her fur to be rubbed off over time. Frannie also lived outside on concrete while being extremely overweight, and this aspect of her story made me realize the true extent to which animal neglect is more common than we think and it is heartbreaking every time to hear no matter what.

Where is Frannie Now in Her Journey?

         It takes a lot of courage and hard work to not only rescue and gain the trust of an eight-year-old dog but to also work with Frannie and encourage her to move around even when it was extremely difficult to see any progress at all with getting her to stand up first. It’s genuinely touching to see how dedicated Bram is to improving Frannie’s quality of life when others wouldn’t even try to give Frannie a chance at a decent life because it was too much work, which all dogs deserve to live out. Today Frannie’s weight loss journey has been an absolute success, and all of Bram’s determination to better Frannie’s life has paid off because two months ago Frannie just began to be able to stand up with support, and now as of March 2024 has lost a significant amount of weight to the point where she can finally run without support! She can now freely chase tennis balls by herself after wanting to get up and play with them, but not having the strength to do it, however all she needed was just a little push and hopeful action from Bram.