Share Your Pet "Adoption" Story!

ndolehan

I was laying in bed at 5am this morning, Rosco decided to serenade the whole house with his persistent "merrrow"-ing. I was of course, grumpy with this. Then at 6am when he decided my toes made I good snack - I'd almost had enough. At 7:30 (after H left for work) when all the pets decided they could lay on top of me, one of which whined then entire time I thought "Why the heck did we adopt these things! I just want to sleep!" And then I remembered they day(s) I picked them up at the shelter or foster home and was all happy and mushy!

Any way - share some of your stories! Do you remember the day you adopted your pet(s)? Or did they adopt you!?

(see comment bellow for mine!)

ndolehan

I don't have a story for Dakota - she is H's and we weren't together when he adopted her, but I love her bunches!

Benny (the bunny) was a surprise pet brought home to me by my dad. I was having a snack when the family came in with a surprise - so not too much of a story here!

Rosco - He is quite the rambunctious kitty. We had been looking to adopt a kitty for a long time and had made the visit to several shelters. We had one in mind, but it had some health problems we just couldn't afford. Finally, we went to a entirely different county,  an hour away where my parents lived. We were NOT going to adopt a kitten. We saw all the adult cats and decided what the heck - we'll go into the kitten room! We were warned about the kittens. And sure enough when we entered, we were their personal tree climbers! While H was being mauled, a sat down on a bench and this cute kitty climbed into my lap. I went to pet him, but he jumped down and zoomed across the room! He did this about 10 more times and I decided this was our cat. We left to go buy a carrier and came back to pick him up (sleeping by now, of course). As we were leaving, I over heard a conversation - he was one a few cats who were about to be moved to the "barn". Which is another facility cats go when they've been at the shelter too long and they dont think will be adopted! Close call for Rosco!

 

Jasper - I've mentioned before he was a rehab dog at the youth facility H worked at, all the therapy dogs are shelter dogs and up for adoption. One of the kids at this facility wanted to adopt Jasper but his parents landlord wouldn't allow a dog. H came home and asked if we could adopt J and I said absolutely not. We could not afford another pet and there was not enough room for him. Well - one day I cam home from work and about to put on my sweat pants when H said we were going for a ride. He refused to tell me where we were going until we were almost there - to which he said "Surprise! We're picking up the dog I told you about!" and then "don't worry - if you don't like him you can say 'no' ". J was at a foster home, so how was I supposed to say no to this lady at her home? H even told me to "look J in the face and tell him he cant come home with us" So what was I supposed to do? He was a cutie and I'm a decent person, so I had to say yes - and now I love him to death! Even though he's a stinker (he's had dog farts the entire time I've written this).

setsail1999

We got Jackson from a friend. She was doing research out in Colorado and was driving through open grazing land when a feral dog was standing in the middle of this old dusty fire road. He was extremely skinny, covered in burrs, fleas, skin infections from mats, and sunbleached. Luckily he was also injured so he couldn't run away and after hours of coaxing my friend was able to get him in the truck with some hot dogs and tuna fish lol. Low and behold he had a pack mate in the brush who ran out barking and jumped in as well. She took them both in to be vetted and decided to foster them until they were back to health. Jackson was in worse shape with an abcess in his paw and numerous abcesses all over from were foxtail burrs had embedded under the skin. They both had issues but Jackson liked people and his brother was a creature of comfort so they adjusted fairly well. At the end of her intership she drove both dogs back from CO to MD thinking she would have a better chance at adopting them out to people she knew back east and I finally got to meet the "wild boys". I fell in love with Jackson and thought he was the most handsom dog ever even with him shaved and 10lbs underweight but it wasn't a good time for us to get a dog. She was getting ready to leave for the peace corp and she got a little interest in him but I couldn't bare to see him leave so I said F-It and adopted him. Thankfully she knew that we would be a good fit because no one else would adopt a feral border collie to a first time dog owner living in an apartment lol. Her mom ended up with his brother and the boys still get to see each other on occasion. He has been the best dog for me and I'm amazed and humbled at his journey into our lives. He's my pet, my friend and my partner in multiple sports.

Poe...My Dh wanted a dog of his own and I wanted another disc dog. I told him that he could pick the dog this time and name it so he started hunting down dogs on petfinder. We once again lived in an apartment and we worked full time so we were afraid that we would have a hard time getting a dog from a rescue. He wanted a young female border collie of a certain size and temperment and didn't really find any that got his attention. We were traveling for tournaments in the fall so he started looking at rescues around those towns to see if he could start the application process in advance. That worked too well lol! He sent me a petfinder pic of a little border collie, called me on my cell and work line to ask if I got the picture and then texted me lol. He had the application and had already spoken to the foster mom when I got home from work. Big Problem...she was in Alabama and we live in MD. He talked me into driving 14hrs to look at her, adopting her, and drove 16 hours home the very next day. But she is totally his little dog. She loves him more than anyone else and they are great together. He didn't get his little purebred border collie (she's got a lot of spaniel in her) but he got his dog. He also didn't get his disc dog. She doesn't like it much and will only play with him but she loved flyball! But yes, my DH saw her picture on petfinder and just had to have her. The funniest part, we drove back down there 1.5 months later for a tournament but he couldn't wait lol.

breaness

My story is kind of sad Poor Sherlocky.

We decided that we were finally ready to get a cat. I didn't want a kitten, I definitely wanted an older cat. So we went to the Humane society and looked around the old cat cages and I didn't find any that I liked. Some were really sweet, but for the most part they were all in bonded pairs. So we went into the kitten room. I fell in love with this grey striped kitten named Titan. We put in our application for him and left. They called us later that day to say we were approved!

We went back in the next day to say that Titan was the one we wanted and talk about next steps. It turns out, Titan was spoken for, and they didn't tell us that! I was SO upset. We left and then came back the following day to look again and have a fresh start. We played with a ton of cats varying in age, size, color, etc. None of them really clicked with us. As we were about to leave the lady recommended that we play with Sherlock.

I didn't like him because he was all grey (except his cute white tipped tail!) with green eyes, which is exactly what my friend's cat looks like. Her cat is the definition of evil so I was against Sherlock from the beginning. We got into the play room and he sat on Steve's lap letting him pet him for several minutes. I just sat there, arms crossed, legs crossed, saying "I don't really like him, I don't know why we're in here." Steve was like, "I don't know, he's pretty cute, and look, he's sitting on my lap! None of the other cats were lap cats." Then I commented on how he had huge balls and they were weird. (I know, I'm awful) and then I said... even worse... that he's not even cute! (Smack me please). To my defense, he did have a terrified look on his face, which is not at all cute on any animal. His tail was also a little weird from him being scared.

Anyway, so Steve put him on my lap, and he was just so soft, and he meowed at me. He closed his cute little kitty eyes and let me scratch his chin and I said "aww, he's not so bad." We then decided to go take him out into the main room with all of the kitty condos and I was the one to hold him on the way out there. He just calmly let me hold him, purring slightly and never tried to get away. He didn't want to get back in his kitty condo.

When they asked us how it went I said "we really like him!" I looked at Steve and I could tell he loved the little guy, so then I added "we want to change the cat on our application to Sherlock."

We got him 2 days later and he's the most lovable cat I've ever known. He's definitely a lap cat, he LOVES attention, gives tons of headbutts (kisses), and is playful too. He's stolen both of our hearts.

AND I also think he's the cutest kitty in the world Now that he doesn't look terrfied!

---

The Humane Society enrolled us in ShelterCare pet insurance for the first month, and they constantly email me. In their emails they use the picture from the Shelter of Sherlock and it's so funny to me because he looks like that scared cat that I said "wasn't cute" in that picture. Every picture I've taken of him he looks absolutely adorable. Shelter life wasn't flattering to him He's a much better home kitty. 

 

ETA: Sherlock's mugshot. Compare to the picture in my signature. Much cuter now!

 

KatiesCats

Oh man.  I remember all of them so well.

Petey and Max, we picked up from the vet because they'd been neutered by the shelter's vet.  We thought they'd be groggy.  Also, they'd never met...we just adopted them at the same time.  We didn't know anything about introducing cats, so we just let them out in the kitchen together.  They were instantly bff.  They never hissed at each other, and they slept spooning together the first night.

Alice, Chip brought home while I was in class.  As everyone on this board knows...she is ugly.  She is just so unfortunate looking.  She was 5 weeks pregnant, terrified, and SO skinny.  She lived in the bathroom sink for three or four days.  She looked like some kind of troll.

Cal we saw on craigslist.  We had a rescue pull him from the shelter for us.  We picked him up from the foster's house on a Friday after work.  The shelter said he was 42 pounds...we didn't realize they meant that he was a very skinny 42 and should be more like 60.  He looked enormous to us.  He'd been neutered that day and was shaky on his feet.  He stood in the car the whole way home (an hour).  He didn't relax fully  approximately one year from that day.

Nite showed up on July 1, 2011.  Chip was out of town, and Nite wasn't due to be "paroled" for another week.  He sleep startled and bit a trainer in the prison, so he was pulled out.  I got a call at 4:30 and he was in my house at 6:30.  And he just never left   Today's his birthday, BTW...just sayin'.  He's 6!

You're right, OP.  Sometimes I have to remember how excited I was on day one to tolerate some of the crap they do on day 1248

kristinanddan

We had bought a house a few months before, so we were both itching to have a dog in our lives again after living in apartments for a few years. 

We had been working with a miniature pinscher rescue and already had our home visit and everything - we were just waiting for the right dog to come along. We were all set to meet a dog a few hours away that weekend, but we ended up having a disagreement with the rescue over spaying her while she was in heat and us having to pay a crazy amount of money for it.

Anyway, the next day my father calls me at work to say a few of them there had talked a coworker who is a dog hoarder into re-homing some of her dogs and getting the ones she was keeping spayed/neutered. There was a 10 or 11 month old sheltie that would be perfect for us. We agreed to  meet him, and we both immediately fell in love with the most pathetic looking creature I've ever seen.

 Turns out, he was only 4 or 5 months old, had worms, fleas, mange, and a secondary skin infection. After lots of vet visits, the most gorgeous dog started to emerge. 

Patches now plays flyball and does some agility because he has a tremendous need for a job. He still has plenty of issues around other people, but we're working on them every day still and can't imagine life without him.

niemand88f

Donna: We had recently moved into an apartment that allows pets, and we really wanted to get a cat. I wanted to wait until I graduated college so I could pay more attention to our new cat and also afford the expenses with my new job, but I thought I would "just see what's available" about 2 months before I graduated. I saw the cutest saddest looking cat put on the local classified site by a rescue. "Sugar" had been found in a ditch in the middle of winter, with a severely infected tail (undergoing necrosis), but the owner of a rescue found her and helped her back to health, after having her tail amputated. I really wanted her after reading her story, but I knew I really couldn't afford a cat yet. I couldn't get this cat out of my head and I kept checking back every week to see if she was still available... then her ad was taken down. I figured she had been adopted and tried to forget about her. But then a couple months later we were seriously looking for a cat, and she was up again- apparently the rescue coordinator had just needed a break. We immediately called and came to meet her. It was an awkward meeting, there were several other foster cats that were so friendly, one even crawled inside the crate we had brought and fell asleep, while "Sugar" hid in a bedroom. But when they finally got her to come out, she just pressed herself up against my leg and wouldn't move. She seemed so unsure of herself and we couldn't tell what she was like, but we decided to adopt her anyway. She was a completely different cat at our house, and really the perfect cat for us!

 

Gizmo: After having Donna for about 6 months we started thinking about getting a second cat. We had to go to the pet store on my birthday but didn't want to get a cat that day. I knew an adoption group would be at our regular Petsmart that day, so we went to a different one... and saw Gizmo! Her adoption group wasn't there yet, she was in one of the cages where they can stay at the store overnight. We called the group and found out they would be there in an hour, so we came back as soon as they arrived. We told them which cat we wanted, then a big family crowded in the room and took Gizmo out of her cage and was passing her around to all the little kids- she looked very unhappy and scared. The adoption coordinator said she was spoken for and the dad aggressively said that they wanted her. We spoke up, and said there was another cat just like her (gizmo's littermate). The dad said we want THIS one, but we won! We kept her and Donna separated for about a week, but they are BFFs now. We have the two perfect cats for our family

RedheadBaker

Owen's story:  

My ex-H and I were house-hunting. We looked at one house, and the homeowner was home at the time. He brought his yellow lab out of the house, and said he'd be hanging out on his neighbor's stoop, just a few houses down. We looked at the house, and really liked it. We went down to the neighbor's house to let him know we were leaving, and we petted the dog as well. The guy said, "If you like him, you can have him!" We laughed, because who would really just give their dog to strangers like that?? 

We made an offer on the house, it was accepted, and at closing, the guy said, "Do you guys want the dog? I'm trying to find a new home for him." I really wanted him, but we weren't moving into the house right away. We were still living at my parents', and my dad had said NO DOGS (my mom wanted to get a puppy for my younger brother). Well, MIL offered to keep the dog until we moved in. So we took him.  

We became friends with several neighbors, because they all knew Owen, and stopped to say to him, and thanked us for taking him, because apparently, the owner made NO time for him whatsoever, and Owen spent about 22 hours a day in his crate.

Reese's story:

My friend (J) adopted Reese from a shelter in New Jersey. They didn't know how old she was, or what mix she was. Her nipples were saggy, but they couldn't find any puppies. They called her an Aussie Shepherd/Corgi mix.  

J was living with his parents. He already had a male lab mix puppy (Mick) and his parents had a senior female purebred Aussie Shepherd, Nugget. Reese lived there peacefully for about a year, but then started getting into fights with Nugget. They were getting pretty bad, and his parents wanted Reese out. J didn't want to return her to the shelter. He knew I volunteered in animal rescue, and fostered sometimes. So, he messaged me, and said he didn't know what to do. He knew I'd offer to take her. He said he'd take her back once he got his own place. 

Well, she wasn't up to date on vaccines, she wasn't on heartworm or flea meds. She had a lot of anxiety, a lot of which stemmed from J's use of dominance-style training. I took her for obedience training, worked with her on her confidence (she even earned her CGC!), took her to a vet, etc. Well, in my city, vets have to report all given rabies vaccines to the city, along with your name, your dog's name, and your address. They check it against their licensing database, and if they can't find a license record, they send you a letter, threatening a fine.

I didn't think they'd believe me if I said I was fostering her for a friend who lived outside the city. I told J I was licensing her in my name. He said fine. He thought she was better off with me anyway. So, she officially became mine.

Carl's story:

S/O and I met while volunteering at the local no-kill SPCA (which also contracted with the city to run the high-kill local animal control shelter). We signed up for a new program they were starting, which paired one volunteer with one "long-term resident" dog, and they were called "Pen Pals." The volunteer agreed to come in twice a week to exercise their Pen Pal, socialize them, train them, and market them for adoption. 

Carl was S/O's Pen Pal. He was a pit bull (like 85% of the shelter's dog population), estimated to be 6 to 12 months old. He was a MANIAC. It took two people to leash him; three people to give him a bath. Outside on walks, he just ran in circles. 

S/O exercised him, took him offsite for hikes in a local park, made flyers about him, took him to adoption events, but nobody showed much interest in Carl.

Then, the shelter got hit with strep zoo, a potentially deadly disease for dogs. It was the second time in one season that it was going around, so they moved ALL the dogs out of the shelter and into crates in the garage at the local SPCA. S/O had tried to introduce crate-training to Carl, and it didn't go well, so we knew he'd go crazy, and would likely be euthanized. 

We wanted to foster Carl, but Reese had just been attacked by another dog I had fostered (Owen had gone to live with my ex-H because of my aggressive foster dog). She was also extremely territorial when it came to other dogs in "her" house. But, keeping the dogs separated was a better option than Carl getting euthanized. So, we brought him home, and introduced them on neutral territory. Reese was completely ambivalent towards him, which was better than attacking him, so we brought them home.

We kept them on-leash when we were there to supervise. Carl kept trying to play with Reese. She didn't reciprocate, but she didn't snap at him. Poor Carl kept muzzle-punching Reese and crying, and she just laid there. 

After a couple of days, she started to play with him. I let her off-leash and kept Carl on-leash (so she could walk away when she wanted to). A few days later, I let both off-leash, and they've been best buddies ever since.

Unfortunately, Reese is a one-dog girl, and goes after Owen when he comes to visit. Owen gets completely stressed out when he's here, so I made the decision that was best for him, even though I miss him so, SO much. 

callitcompulsive

I usually peruse the local animal shelter's website from time to time to see what kind of animals they have in. At the time, I had my persian, Jack, and two guinea pigs. One day I was looking at the site and I saw they had THE CUTEST guinea pig ever on there. In the description, they said he had mange, but has been treated and is now up for adoption. The picture they had posted only showed his head. Black face, and a white "mohawk". I was in love. So I did research on mange mites, and figured it didn't sound like much of a challenge. I told DH about this pig and he was like "You already have two, blah blah blah" but I went to the shelter anyway to look at him. He was in a back room with the other "critters" and immediately was taken aback. He had open sores all over his body, and was missing at least 60-70 % of his hair. He was so skinny, too. I noticed that his gait was off too. He was more or less hopping vs walking. His food dish was filled with some sort of seed mixture (it looked like a bird food) and he had no hay. I needed to get him out of there. Like, a week ago. lol. So I told the lady at the desk I wanted him, and she gave me such a f'n run around for a $5 guinea pig that probably wouldn't have lasted much longer in the conditions he was in. But after a while, I dont know if she realized how dumb she'd been acting, she gave him to me. I took him home and put him into his quarantine cage I had set up. For the first like 2-3 hours he was home, he ate. and ate. and ate. He was starving! I continued treating him for mites, even though the shelter said he was treated and good to go. I also treated my other two pigs for good measure, just in case. Within the week, Sammy had started growing hair back, and put on some weight. The first week I put crushed up vitamin C on his fresh salads at night just to help with his vitamin deficiency, and wouldn't you know, he started to walk easier. He no longer hopped. A few weeks later, I introduced him to my other pigs, and they were like the three musketeers ever since. 

 

About a year after the Sammy adoption, I decided I wanted another cat. Our new apartment complex allowed us to have a dog or two cats. So I said what the hell. We're already paying the pet fee for Jack, why not get another cat? DH was against it. But I persisted. And he caved. LOL. at the time, Jackie was about 11, so I didnt want to get a kitten. I wanted an older cat... besides I'm a softie for the older cats who get overlooked by people wanting a kitten. On the website, they had this girl cat, who was like 7 or 8, declawed, and spayed. I wanted a girl because we had 3 boy pigs, a boy cat, and DH is obviously a boy. I'm waaay outnumbered here. So I went to see her one day and she wanted nothing to do with me. Pfft. Fine. They had these big cat colony rooms where they house 10-20 cats in each room with outdoor access (like a little fenced off ledge they can get some fresh air and lay in the sun. It's really very nice.) While I was trying to get this girl cat to like me, this big, handsome black cat came up to me and started rubbing me. So I started petting him and soon I realized that he was declawed. (one of my requirements.) so I got out of the cat room, and looked for his name tag. He was a little older than I had wanted, I think it said he was 10. But hey. He seemed in good shape otherwise. I went to tell the lady at the desk that I wanted him and by the time I did that, they went to call my vet to make sure Jackie was UTD on his shots... and the vet was closed. F*ck. So I left empty handed. I came home and told DH about this big awesome cat. I called the vet and asked them to fax me Jack's vaccination records at work, and left work early the following Monday. I left work early armed with my fax and $40 in my wallet, expecting to leave with a cat. They failed to inform me that he was being held for another couple who came in that Monday while I was at work. No, they wouldn't hold him for ME when I was in there SATURDAY. But whatever. I didn't ugly cry about it until I got into the car and drove home. again. empty handed. 

Wednesday I went back... to start from scratch... I walked back to the cat rooms, and walked the hallway trying to decide which one I wanted to go in. On one of the steps in the cat room, there was this big, tiger striped cat with big round golden eyes just staring at me. I paced a few times, and each time I walked by him, his big eyes didn't leave me. So I went in to that room. I sat down next to him, and he came and checked me out. I was petting him and giving him lovin's and when he put his hands up on my chest to smell my face, I noticed he didn't have claws. I looked at his card, took a picture of him and texted it to DH. he said go for it, so I did. This time they let me leave with a cat! That's how I adopted Eastwood from the PITA shelter.

They really do not make it easy to "do a good thing" and adopt an animal. Srsly. I was completely emotionally exhausted after the whole adoption process. -_- 

byrne15

Here are some pics from the day we got Bentley

DH and I had decided we wanted to get a dog.  We looked on pet finder and found this litter that had been born at the shelter.  They weren't available for 4 more weeks, but we planned on driving to the shelter the day they were adoptable.  We got there 10 minutes before they opened and we were waiting with 3 other couples...all for puppies in this litter!  There had been 10 puppies born and 3 were already claimed by shelter employees.  We had 2nd pic of the 7 puppies that were left.  Bentley was the 1st one that caught my eye...and we took him home about an hour later!

 Here he is now!

OSULori

Byrne15-Omg Bentley is beautiful...what amazing eyes!

Katie-Alice is NOT ugly!  Maybe a little pathetic...and not gorgeous...but she's cute in her own way!

 

We adoped Georgie in April 2009 from a rural no kill shelter east of Columbus-we'd bought our house in November 2008 and waited a very long four and a half months to start looking for a dog (our old apt didn't allow them, which was torture for two dog lovers).  A coworker of mine volunteers at the shelter we got Georgie from, so after I mentioned to her at lunch that we were ready to start the search for our first dog she started coming to work with pictures on her phone of dogs they had at the shelter (b/c she knew we were stritctly sticking to shelters or rescues).  She texted me a couple of pictures so that I could send them to J, and his response was "Those two are really cute, what are their stories?".  Georgie was found as a stray with a 6ish month old puppy that no one could figure out if they were related or not-the couple that found them actually thought about keeping Georgie b/c she was so sweet but thank goodness they didnt!  We went to the shelter the next weekend to meet some dogs and the ones we met were sweet but didn't give us that "Omg that's our dog" feeling.  And then Princess Georgia came out of her run.  She gave us a quick sniff, ran to another part of the enclosure to pee, and came back for more lovins...we looked at each other and said "this is our dog".  She came home a week later and has been an angel ever since.

 

Eddie's story is a little more difficult to hear   He is one of the Ohio 200-dogs that were kept on a property in SE Ohio, living outside on chains, and some used for dogfighting.  The animals (in addition to the dogs, there were approximately 300 other animals on the property) were discovered by federal agents serving a drug warrant in August 2010.  The agents called the Humane Society of the United States, who called in a number of vets in the Ohio/PA/WV area and shelters/rescues from all over the country and coordinated the rescue effort. (note: I do not agree with everything the HSUS has said or done in recent years, but for what they did for these dogs I will always be grateful)  One of the vets they called in runs a low cost spay/neuter/vet care clinic and small adoption center here in Columbus-they ended up taking about 25 dogs back to Columbus with them and after vetting got them set up with people in their foster network to take them in and teach them how to live in a home.  Eddie ended up being fostered by the clinic's medical director, and I met him at a PetSmart adoption event in early October 2010.  I was actually supposed to just be dropping KatiesCats off-we had had lunch with some girls from the P&CE board and Katie's H was at PetSmart with their greyhound foster.  I decided to go pet the greyhounds and say hi to Chip, and then had to go see the other doggies too...and as I do I see a scared, scared, oh so scared little face peeping out at me from under a folding chair.  I stopped to talk to Eddie's foster mom and helped her coax h im out from under the chair...took her card and told her I'd talk to my hubby.  She didn't think she'd hear back from me (how many people say they have to talk to their spouse and never return?  A lot.) but I emailed her the next day to set up a time for J to meet the wee man, he fell in love at first sight, and Eddie came home a few days later. 

Those of you who have been around for a while will remember my posts for the first couple of months after we adopted Eddie...it was rough.  He and Georgie got into a small scuffle a few days after we brought him home, and Georgie ended up needing a few stitches below her right eye.  He had trouble sleeping in his crate b/c he was afraid of the new sounds/surroundings.  He had quite the appetite for my clothing.  And he didn't bond with us instantly like G did.  Thankfully with time, patience, NILIF, and a lot of baby gates and time outs when he started being a jerk, things eventually evened out.  He and Georgie love each other like siblings, he's bonded well with both me and my H, and he has earned his full freedom from the crate!  He is still a skittish dog and is scared of lots of things-we put him on Prozac in Sept and its helped immensely.  And he still pukes in the car regularly.  But he has wiggled his way into our hearts and we adore the little stinker!

foundmylazybum

Snowdog: It's okay to flame me for this, but we got her from a pet store. ::Shrug::

I went to buy cat food and I came out with her..and the food. I had never ever taken out a dog to look at or anything, but Snowdog had been at the store for a long time, and I always thought she was cute..and I was with my BF (now H) and he was like, "aww, let's just look at her," so we did..and she was so awesome that it just happened. I don't shop at stores that sell pets anymore and despite the fact that I own a petstore dog (which may make me look like a hypocrite), I feel like I'm pretty educated on the evils of BYB's, and puppy mills..and in a way I think I'm a good ambassador of "hey, you can get your dog from a variety of places..our dog--she most likely came from a puppy mill--she's a great dog--I won't EVER do that again...you have a choice too." 

 

Cash the Cat: Cash's mom was a feral cat who came to our house and I started feeding. We called her Rex, because we thought she was a "he" and "he" was the king of our yard. Imagine our surprise when "he" brought her one surviving kitten into the yard one evening (we still called her Rex). "Kitten" (as he was called) was just the coolest little feral kitty I thought and he was being fed too then. Eventually, because I can't help myself, I started working on trying to touch the Kitten. First with gloves, then bare hands, then being able to pick him up--pretty soon, he was always hanging around our house..and he was kind of stuck--half wild and half domesticated. We got him fixed through TNR..and he was just becoming more and more a part of our family. We had a small group of ferals I fed, but none of them could really be house cats...but "Kitten..." I couldn't really see myself leaving him behind..so we decided to see what how he would do inside..one night we brought him in...WOW. it was a bit intense for a little while...and loud. That cat can talk. But, he did adjust--and now, three years later--Cash as he is now called is one of the best cats on the planet. I know other people think their cat is awesome. They just don't know Cashie. Sorry people. ;D. 

 

gumby22c

Butch - May 2008. My H was working and found a little blond kitten hiding under the carts at a grocery store. He kept hearing meowing, and finally tried looking around to find the source. The only way he could catch the poor scared kitten was in a box. He called me and said"hey do you want a kitten?" What girl would say no? Butch was only 9 weeks old and we think he was abused because his little whiskers were all short and jagged like they had been cut : ( He has come a long way from that scared little kitten we found!

Maxx - May 2009. We were told about him by a family member who volunteered at the shelter. His family had given him up because their child had become allergic. We went to visit him and fell in love with the 16lb cat. He came home with us about a week later.

Poncho - July 2009. We were looking to adopt our first dog and H and I are both partial to GSD. While we were visiting Maxx at the shelter, we were told about a GSD that was going to be coming into the shelter. A family was giving him up and if they couldn't find someone to take him, he was coming to the shelter. We were put in contact with the family, and we met up with them so we could meet him. We fell in love the first time we met Poncho. He is a 80lbs of love and energy!

Kiki - Feb 2010. Poncho came from a family with 2 other dogs and had major separation anxiety when we brought him to our single dog household. So we began looking to adopt a buddy for him in hopes to help with his anxiety. H came across Kiki on Petfinder and she was in our local shelter. He went to visit her, while I was at work one day and fell in love. We talked about it later that night, and he asked me if I'd like her as part of my birthday gift. Of course I said yes. She came home with us a few days later, and was the best buddy for Poncho. His anxiety was gone instantly and the only time we see it is when we have to separate them for vet visits. I love Kiki, because she is my only girl in this house full of boys!

RJ - Sept 2011. We had been toying with the idea of adding a 3rd dog to our family. We were looking on Petfinder and came across a couple dogs in our local shelter. We decided to just "go look" and visit the shelter. We came across RJ, in the back corner all by himself. He was 4 months old and adorable. We got him out and played with him for a bit. After that, we were in love and knew he was meant for us. After going through the application process and getting approved, RJ came home with us later that day.

grahamsm3

We had been to a couple shelters looking to adopt a cat and hadn't found the right one.

We went to another shelter, a more popular one in the area that we didn't start with b/c they have lots of help and money and some other shelters near us don't, and walked about looking at the cats. We looked at all of them and decided we wanted to visit with one.

We went in the visiting room and they brought her in. She was very friendly, let DH hold her and even hold her on her back and rub her tummy. We were 80% sold, but wanted to look around one more time and make sure we really wanted her.

Then an employee came up to us and the other employee who was with us and asked if we were taking the cat b/c another family who had seen her the day before was here to adopt her! The employee with us told her that this had never happened before, but that priority would go to us since we were just with her. 

That cemented it. Our cat couldn't go home with those other people!

We adopted her and had to leave her to be spayed and went back to pick her up in a few days.

LlsbnLlama

Francesca Elisabetta's Story

We had been wanting a dog FOREVER, but being a poor graduate  student family and living in no-pets apartments for the last couple of years wasn't doing us any favors on that front. It did, however, give us plenty of time to fantasize about exactly the dog we wanted! We knew it all - Pomeranian or Papillon or a mix that looked similar, preferably orange or cream, definitely a girl, and of course from a shelter or rescue. We were willing to wait for the right dog to come along. Hah.

The day after Thanksgiving this year I was randomly browsing through our county shelter's online database and happened upon the sweetest looking little Papillon mix in the shelter furthest from us, about 1 1/2 hours away. We decided to just go for it and check her out the following day. When we got there she was ADORABLE and seemed perfect looks-wise, but was barking and barking and acting aggressive toward the other dog caged with her. We had to take a time-out and have a serious talk between the two of us about what we were going to do. Even though we're allowed to have a dog, our landlord was not super excited about us adopting a pet they couldn't meet and check out beforehand. We also knew if she barked all day long and our neighbors complained we'd be in a tough spot. We filled out the entire adoption application except for the part about which dog we wanted and decided we'd just visit with her and make a decision afterwards. When we asked shelter staff about her, we found out she was already on hold for another family who was coming back to the shelter with the dog they already have to introduce the two. We were heartbroken - totally crushed. We were so into this one dog that we hadn't even looked around the shelter to see the others.

We decided to take a quick look through the small dog section and none of the dogs really seemed right for us. We came with a friend and she was GLUED to the cage of this one skinny looking Chihuahua with a sweet face. We'd kind of skipped right over her, but on second thought, she did have a cute face, and she was so calm even though her cagemate and all the other dogs were barking and barking. We asked to take her into the play area and the rest is history! She is our little Chessie and our perfect baby and we couldn't be happier we stepped out of our comfort zone to take a second look at her. As I type this she is snuggling on my lap curled up in a little ball - so tired from our trip to the pet store today! She's just perfect and we couldn't feel luckier to have her in our family. 

 

 

2bmissusb

After DH and I bought our house, we started thinking about getting a dog.  I wanted a dachshund, he wanted a black lab.  As much as we wanted a dog, we wanted to wait until we'd fenced in our back yard.

A few months after we moved in to our house DH called me at work to tell me about the stray puppy that wandered up to the shop where he worked.  He said she looked to be in pretty bad shape: limping, bloated belly, open wounds on her head, a few bald spots...but most of all, she was damn cute.

We didn't have a fence yet, and weren't ready for a dog.  So I gave him the numbers for the no-kill shelter and a couple of rescues in our area.

When he was about to get off work, he called me to tell me that he'd left messages with the shelter and rescues but no one had called him back.  Add to that, she kept looking at him, and he was getting really attached.  So I asked him if he thought he should just bring her home with him.  That was all he needed to hear. 

She was a hot mess (she had a broken shoulder, worms, infected wounds, and mange), but she really was just about the most adorable thing I'd ever seen.  It was love at first sight, and she's been ours ever since.

We still don't have a fence, a black lab, or a dachshund...and we wouldn't trade our itty bitty pitty for any of them.

AMJ6511

I remember the day we adopted our Shih Tzu, Lulu. It was a cold and rainy October day and my husband got sent home early from his rotation because he was sick. We were looking to rescue a Shih Tzu for awhile and he happened to look online at our local shelter's website and there she was. When he called, she was very sick (later we found out it was pneumonia and kennel cough) and wasn't out on the adoption floor. He talked the lady into letting us see her and we fell in love! Meanwhile, I meet him at the shelter and my car gets towed as we are adopting her!! We had to take a van cab with our new fur baby to go get our car at this shady tow lot. It was quite a dramatic night but we are so grateful for her  

LadyShaSha

Sadie:

We found out that our landlord would allow us to have a pet, and I immediately started looking at dogs on Petfinder.  DH was NOT a dog person.  He had grown up with cats and wanted to adopt a cat.  While I REALLY wanted a dog, I agreed to look at both cats and dogs to try to find the best fit for us.  The first adoption event we went to was at a local PetCo and Sadie was there, as scared as she could be.  She was hiding under the chair of her foster mom.  As we walked past, she looked up at DH with her big brown eyes and he said "I want to adopt her."  We found out that she had been left outside when her family foreclosed on their home (in Northern MN in Dec - a**holes) and had lived outside for about 2 months with her canine brother.  I thought DH was just falling for the first sad puppy eyes so I made him leave without her and go to a few more adoption events.  After meeting a few more dogs and cats -- we had our second "date" with Sadie and brought her home the next day. 

Her first few days were pretty rough -- she wouldn't leave the area rug in the living room, DH had to carry her outside, to her water bowl, to eat. But she came out of her shell pretty quickly and was the best addition to our lives that we ever could have hoped for!

Winston:

We fostered Winston for about 6 weeks (I had pulled him from a shelter in IA that our rescue regularly works with).  My DH absolutely fell in love with him.  Although we had other fosters that he liked, they had an immediate connection. But, Sadie & Winston didn't get along very well (Sadie really bullied him)  After about 6 weeks, Winston was adopted by a great family.  DH was torn up about it and really missed him.  After a week, he was returned to us by his adopting family -  the wife was extremely allergic to him.  Since we knew he was going to be with us a bit longer, we started working on Sadie & Winston's relationship -- we stepped up NILIF and did a lot of boundary training (Sadie guarded space),  They slowly learned to tolerate each other.

One Sat., DH was supposed to take Winston to an adoption event.  He left, and then came right back and said he couldn't do it -- he couldn't adopt him out again.  So he went to the adoption event and adopted Winston himself!  Although we never planned on adding a 150 lb. dog to our household -- he is really becoming part of the family and he & Sadie are now BFFs (as you can tell from my Siggy -- they love to spoon!).

blu-eyedwife

After I took The Bar I took off the month of August from work.  DH and I planned on adopting a dog at that time since I'd have off to get the dog acclimated to us and our home before we both were working all day.

We spent days visiting shelters in our area, none of whom would let us bring a dog home that day - which is what we wanted, so it could have as much time as possible with me before being alone.  (In hindsight, knowing this, I probably would have started looking sooner, but we thought we could go in and bring a dog home)  They were all either on holds, or one shelter required us to go through a 30 day interview-type thing before we could adopt.

At the end of the first week, DH had to go back to work.  He came home and lunch and said he heard of one more place we could try.  It was a vet's office that had about 6-8 dogs that were overflow from some of the LA County shelters.  When we got there, this little JRT totally caught my eye.  She was adorable, hyper, and bouncing around her kennel.  While I was looking at her, the yellow-lab mix beside her had stolen DH's heart.  He was gently and sweetly licking DH's fingers through the wire.  

DH was sold, but I wasn't.  We didn't want a high maintenance dog.  I was specifically looking for something small (we were in a 640 sq. ft. apt.), stupid, and low energy - since DH and I both work long hours.  We knew we just didn't have the time to train and exercise a high energy dog.  And labs in general don't fit any of those qualifications.  But the vet assistant told us she thought this lab-mix would be a good fit for us.  She told us how mellow he was, and that he probably wouldn't get much bigger.  Since he had a failed adoption, he was already neutered and we could bring him home with us in the time it would take her to get a leash.  

And bring him home we did.  And we cannot believe how much we lucked out on this dog that we almost didn't get.  He has a heart of gold, is patient and always on his best behavior.  We can leave the garbage out and food on the coffee table and he won't touch it.  He loves other dogs.  He isn't smart enough to be a problem solver so he rarely gets into trouble.  At home he is mellow and content to just hang out, but when we get him outside or around other dogs he has unbridled energy.  He fits our lifestyle so well and is just the easiest dog to deal with.

Tambcat

When we adopted our first cat together (Abby, who recently passed away), she got loose when they were trying to put her into the carrier, and H had to jump behind the desk and help them chase her down and catch her. lol. Then we we got home, she hid behind the stove for 4 hours and totally destroyed a feather toy we were using to try to entice her out. After that grand and feisty entrance, she spent the rest of her life mostly eating and sleeping.

I remember that when we adopted our cat Emma, we were about to leave the shelter because we hadn't seen anyone we really clicked with. As we passed the kennels in front on the way out, I saw this sweet little ball of gray and white fur that I'd missed on the way in. I went over and stuck my finger through the grate, and she uncurled, yawned, looked me straight in the eye, and reached one paw out. It was love at first sight for both of us.

When I first saw Bailey, his fur was shaved really short on his body and closely clipped around his face. I was like "what is THAT?" lol. His foster mom told me he was a Pomeranian without his fur. He was near catatonic from HW meds and drooling because he'd recently had his teeth removed, but I thought he was the cutest dog I had ever seen. I held him during the adoption event that day, and H says now that he knew the moment I saw Bailey that it was all over and that was going to be our first dog. We didn't get him for a couple of more months and another adoption event. I held him at the second event too, and after that, I decided to see if we could adopt him. Thankfully, our landlady said yes even though her previous policy had been no dogs! I'm still thankful to H for saying yes too, since Bailey is about the furthest thing from 90 lb German Shepherd H is always saying he wants.

When we went to adopt Maggie, we were trying to decide between her and this adolescent Calico cat but went with Maggie because she seemed more laid back and less likely to cause problems with our other cats. Ha!  She is the most active and dominant of them all! She was just sick at the shelter.

When H first saw Cat (the cat he had before we were married), she was nestled between his roommate's girlfriend's boobs. lol