We got a puppy!

The story is long, so I apologize in advance.

The kids have been talking about getting a dog for a long time.  Ben and I continued to tell them that we were open to getting the right pet, not just an animal for the sake of having an animal.  Truthfully, it's been hard for me to get to the place where I'm okay with another pet because I will always feel guilty that we had to re-home our cats, even though it was the best for all of us and they are safe and happy with other families.  For the last several months, even in the midst of moving, we've kept our eyes out for a dog.  In the evenings, we'd look on craigslist or puppy websites to see what was out there and it was just something fun to take our minds off of packing/traveling/unpacking.  As we looked, it was really eye opening.  We wanted a puppy so that it was small enough that the boys wouldn't be scared of it and they could all grow up together.  We were finding it near impossible; puppies from random people were either sketchy or scams or just a puppy mill and if it was legit, the puppies were snatched up immediately.  Breeders were asking for more money than we'd ever pay for an animal and they also came with potential health problems because of the breeding.  We went to the local animal shelter and the Petsmart adoption center, but they were full of scary Terriers and the kids did not like it one bit.  After visiting the shelter, I felt like we were out of options...unless a miracle happened.  A couple of hours later, Ben casually said he thought he found the perfect dog and showed me a picture from a website called Caring for Canines.  We had been wanted a Golden Retriever and maybe a lab and this puppy was a wonderful mix of the 2.  Her description said she is shy at first by a very sweet dog...perfect.  The boys have been pretty afraid of any dog that comes close to them, so we had a good feeling that a shy dog is just what we needed.

We contacted the shelter and she told us the puppy and her sister were available, but requests for them were pouring in and they most likely would be adopted before the next weekend when Ben could come up with us (forgot to mention the puppies were in Phoenix).  So, the kids and I jumped in the car and drove the 3 hours up to Phoenix to meet these pups and see if they were indeed a good fit for our family.

 

The long story of it is, we were supposed to go Monday; we drove 2 hours and got a text saying the foster mom couldn't make the appointment until later in the afternoon, but we had a dinner with Ben's new command that night and wouldn't make it back in time.  So we turned around and went back home....4 hours in the car for nothing.  We tried again Tuesday and made it all the way and actually got to meet the dogs!  To our favor, the lady felt so bad about it that she didn't allow anyone else come to meet the dogs until we did.  It was a bummer, but the kids really are champion travelers and we were fine.

Meeting the puppy:

I was bummed Ben couldn't come.  There is something so magical about meeting puppies.  I have a terrible memory, but I vividly remember my dad taking me and my sister to pick out our dog JJ.  She brought the two puppies out and I instantly knew which one was ours...one was more golden and I could see more retriever in her and I fell in love with her ears.  She put them down and the two rolled all over each other and I could see how affectionate she was and the kids instantly connected with them.  This was the first time in our family history that there was no fear in meeting a dog.  All 3 immediately were on the ground playing with them and had big smiles on their faces.

 Alison wanted the puppy that was more white because she was more active, but I told her she was just going to have to trust my gut and we were going to get the golden one.  The foster mom told me not to take that gut feeling lightly and she could see how good of a fit this dog was for our family.  She commented how gentle our kids were with the dogs and oh, how I wish she could see how they usually are with animals (i.e. not even close to touching them).

I asked what her story was...she said that somehow these puppies and one other sister ended up at a shelter near Mexico.  The shelter called them and said that they were overcrowded; they had 2 kennels and 10 dogs in each. They were going to put down 5 dogs in 2 days...if they wanted to save them, they had 2 days to go get them.  This non-profit organization is run by a woman and her mom and they keep the dogs at her house and they made the long trip to rescue 5 dogs.  They brought them home and got them "doctored" up and once they put them up online, they were quickly bombarded with inquiries from all over the country.  The unique mix of these dogs (golden retriever and lab with a hint of American Shepherd) makes them...I don't know, really smart and beautiful and healthier.  Somehow in all the slew of people contacting her, this lady felt that we were the ones who needed to come and I thought that was pretty cool.

I told her we would like to adopt the golden puppy (her name was Melody but they weren't calling her anything other than puppy) and a smile came on Alison's face that I have never ever seen and will never forget.  Biggest smile ever.  A magical smile.

Side note: another thing that sold me was they had all her shots taken care of, microchipped her, spayed her and crate and potty trained her in 10 days!  And asked for a fraction of the price of everything else we saw!  I was nervous about jumping into puppi-ness, but they made it super easy and even gave me a file of all the information I need.  Sold.

We had a bed for her in the back of the car and the lady assured me that she would fall asleep in a few minutes and be just fine laying back there.

She was wrong.  10 minutes down the road, in the middle of Phoenix traffic, the puppy jumped over the seat, right into Colin's lap, which scared the snot out of him.  Alison saved the day and comforted everyone in the car and the puppy spend the rest of the car ride at Alison's feet...and pretty much hasn't left her side since.

Ben was waiting for us when we got home and instantly agreed that we made a great decision in bringing her home.

She is still very shy and scared, but also very loving and sweet.

And this little girl hasn't stopped smiling since.

Here's a couple of videos of her adjusting to a new home: