It was no more than a few weeks in the new house and Bryan and I found ourselves regularly discussing plans for a little one. And when I say ‘little one’, I mean the kind with fur. Long before we even moved in to our condo, we were so ready to open our home and our hearts to a dog. Both of us grew up with dogs and were anxious to add a furry friend to our little family. Since our condo would not allow for a dog, we agreed this would be one of the first changes we made when we found a house. Not surprising to anyone, it didn’t take long to become attached to a certain face after a few nights of browsing on Petfinder.com. He had freckles, short little legs, droopy ears, and huge paws. And he was everything we wanted. We held off on visiting him, however, because we knew waiting until Bryan was on summer break about six weeks later was the best thing to do. We knew waiting to adopt a puppy was the right decision but were also aware that the chances of him still waiting to be adopted six weeks from then were slim. Despite this, we were still absurdly disappointed when we saw that ‘Whiski’ (people don’t believe us when we tell them he was ALREADY named as such) wasn’t listed anymore. We took comfort in assuming he was adopted by another great family and just kept hoping the next six weeks went quickly so that we could find the pup that was meant to be ours.
Two weeks after that, a colleague of mine and I wandered on over to Petfinder.com again to stare at cute faces. After a few minutes of browsing, a very familiar cute face popped up on my screen. You got it- the same soft, freckled friend we had been previously been longing for. I texted Bryan and we spent that evening staring at his picture again. This gave us a little more hope that he might still be up for adoption at the end of the month when Bryan ended the school year. We had inadvertently brought it up to our families that the pup we were interested in was available and my mom said it best- “You’re a fool if you don’t visit that puppy. Your friends and family can help make it work” We took her advice, reached out to the rescue that night and found out that Whiski and his siblings were going to be at an adoption event in our town the very next morning. We took this as a sign and tried to contain our childlike excitement about our visit.
We arrived at PetSmart a little early and just in time to see the pups being brought inside. In the spirit of accurately describing how much we longed for this dog, I started crying when he was carried inside (Bryan told me to stop causing a scene because children were staring). His ears were floppier and he had even more freckles in person. My husband and I fell in love the second he slobbered all over our faces. John Casey, from 4 Paws 4 U 4 Ever, asked if we wanted to take him home that afternoon and our hearts just about burst.
This is our first ‘family photo’. He has already gotten bigger!
It’s been three weeks as a family of three and to say that this little pup has changed our lives is an understatement. We are so glad we didn’t wait any longer to visit Whiskey (we changed up the spelling of his name) because I could not imagine any dog other than him making me chase them for my socks in the morning. We knew he was part Labrador Retriever when we adopted him – but his vet is pretty certain he is also a Basset Hound. This means he will love going on adventures with us, whether that be a weekend camping trip or an afternoon spent at the park. But the Basset in him means he will equally love taking a Saturday afternoon nap with us!
I couldn’t boast about our new family member without properly mentioning and thanking the people who allowed us to be his forever home. John and Shari Casey from ‘4 Paws 4 U 4 Ever’, started their organization to rescue dogs from shelters in the south where they would likely be euthanized. They have found homes for hundreds of dogs and I, along with numerous other families, are so thankful they have made this their mission in life. 4 Paws is based out of West Chicago, IL and you can usually find them, their volunteers, and the available pups, at an adoption event on the weekends.
It’s also important to mention that the adoption event was at our local PetSmart. Through PetSmart Charities, 500,000 animals are saved each year through events like these. Additionally, PetSmart regularly supports and partners with various animal welfare groups across North America. Their website allows visitors to make monetary donations or to even search volunteer opportunities at animal shelters in their area. I was so surprised to learn all that this company does more than sell food and toys- they ensure good lives for so many rescue animals like my pup.
‘4 Paws’ website says “Saving one dog will not change the world, but it will change the world for that one dog.” Bryan and I were so adamant about adopting our pup from a rescue because there are countless animals already available that may never find homes without people like John and Shari. If you are remotely considering adding an animal to your family, I highly stress the ‘adopt don’t shop’ approach. The happiness Bryan and I felt walking out with this guy in our arms a few weeks ago was so fulfilling . We like to think we changed Whiskey’s world, but are confident in saying that he’s the one that changed ours for the better.