We got Sammie from the SPCA. Ben and I had been married for almost two years and we decided to go ahead and get the dog we talked about when we were engaged. I asked him where he wanted to get a dog from. He said, "the pound". So, we went to the SPCA, met a few dogs, and adopted Sammie.
There was no research, no pre-planning, nothing. I remember when he came home with us, holding the bag of dog food (a brand I would never feed now!) thinking, "I have no idea how much a dog eats"!!
Speedy's story is similar. I saw a Border Collie in a pet store and was very taken with it. It was the first dog I had seen whose color pattern was the same as Sammie's! I told Ben I wanted a Border Collie, he found a breeder, we went and met two puppies, and came home with one.
Speedy had been with us a couple of days when I got the brilliant idea of researching Border Collies. What I read as my sweet Border Collie puppy chewed on my feet under the computer table was quite an eye opener!
That story rarely ends well, but in our case, the hand of God was most certainly on us.
Less than a year after Speedy joined us, we decided that we wanted a girl. Ben found Petfinder and he searched through that. Maddie popped up as the "Featured Pet" on the site from a rescue about an hour away. We arranged to meet her two days later and she came home with us that day.
By the time Dean came along, I was wiser. This time I was going to put some thought, research, and careful choice into the selection of a new dog. By that time I was a volunteer with Glen Highland Farm, so I went on their website and picked out 5 dogs that met my criteria.
We went up to meet those 5 dogs and connected with Dean and adopted him. Even though this was a well thought out and planned decision, I still only waited one week to go up and meet the 5 dogs . . .
And then there was Tessa. My short term foster. I had evaluated her in a shelter for Glen Highland Farm and agreed to hold her for three weeks because they had no room for her right away. When I saw that this extremely frightened girl felt safe among my dogs and on my furniture, I simply could not put her out. The decision to adopt Tessa was a heart decision, but not a typical one. I was not head over heels in love with her, nor her with me. She was nothing that I would have said I wanted in a dog. But I no sooner could have let her go than I could have put one of my dogs up for adoption! I know now that God's hand was on that decision, too. The falling in love came much later, but there is no dog in the world more perfect for me than Tessa, and no owner in the world more perfect for her than me. We were just made to share time on this earth together.
So, the whole experience of being on a list before the puppies are born, waiting for them to be born, then seeing pictures of newly born puppies, and then starting to watch them grow and change and be fat peaceful little sleeping guys is so very new to me!
It is getting to where I can't wait to know which one will join our household. I am starting to want to know the feeling of holding our puppy!
But . . . it can wait a bit, too. This anticipation is very sweet. In the long run I will look back on this time and think it was over in the blink of an eye. For now, I am really savoring the experience!
Four of the five puppies at about one week old. Photo courtesy of their breeder.
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