And yet, I'm here to confess I found a true love on the internet. Since it's our anniversary today, I thought I'd share our story.
A long time ago we adopted our sweet girl, TASHA from a local animal shelter when she was about a year old. She was stubborn, physically strong and loved to run away....like on the morning of my sister's wedding when I had better things to do than go traipsing through the woods to catch her. But we loved her.
One day, when she was eleven, she suddenly fell ill. When I took her to the vet, I asked about the possibility of getting another dog to help keep Tasha young. Sadly, Tasha passed away the same day she got sick. :-(
But my vet and his wife had already decided they had the perfect dog for us....so TEDDY came into our lives.
He was four years old, only "spoke" Korean, and didn't respond to his name (Indy, at the time). He wasn't the friendliest of dogs (except with me). I found out a year later that he'd rejected everyone else the vet tried to get to adopt him. Eventually he warmed up to almost everyone....almost....
Teddy ruled the roost for five years.
But I really missed having a big dog and Long Suffering was kind enough to indulge me, so I began a search for another dog, hopefully one who could accompany me on my walks and runs. (I do half marathons so they're not your usual walk around the block.)
I scoured Petfinder.com for months. We visited the shelter we'd adopted Tasha from. We visited the local rescue organization. I drove Long Suffering nuts. I studied Petfinder.com some more.
And then I saw her and it was love at first sight.
So we filled out an application with Eleventh Hour Rescue to see about adopting her. On August 25th, 2011 our application was approved, but we had to wait to see her.
She wasn't in New Jersey. She was in Tennessee.
So we waited. We took Teddy to meet other dogs Eleventh Hour had available for adoption. None were a fit for us. (I did mention he's not the friendliest of fellows, didn't I?)
So we waited.
And we took Teddy to meet other dogs at the local animal shelter, but found no one who fit with our family. (i.e. no one who could get along with Teddy)
Meanwhile, Teresa was spayed in TN and had to recover before volunteers would drive her all the way to NJ.
Finally, on September 9th, we got an email asking if we were still interested in meeting her because she was being brought up to Jersey the next day. We made an appointment to see her at 4:30 the next afternoon.
The poor girl was pretty tired when we met her, having been in a car all night, and only having arrived at the rescue organization that morning. She was dirty, mangy, stumbled a lot (Long Suffering was convinced she had something neurologically wrong and would die) and skittish, but we fell in love with her anyway.
Even Teddy didn't seem to hate her and when he growled or barked at her, she would just wag her tail and move away from him, as though she knew that he weighs seven pounds and she weighs close to seventy.
We brought her home that night and named her PHOEBE. Slowly, but surely, she settled in. She's healthy now. All the discoloration in her coat disappeared once she had a couple of vet visits, a steady, healthy diet, regular exercise and brushing. She's no longer nervous (except during thunderstorms) and she enjoys her walks and runs without stumbling.
She and Teddy still aren't best pals, but he rarely growls at her any more and when he steals food meant for her, she still just wags her tail and moves away from him.
They've even become couch buddies.
Today is the one year anniversary of Phoebe joining our family.
So that's our love connection made via the internet. How did you find your four-legged family members?
17 comments:
I have met both Teddy and Phoebe and I love them both. They're very lucky dogs! My three kitties are all rescues of some sort or another, and I know the universe brings us together with the four-legged family members who need us the most.
What a wonderful story. I hope lots of folk read this and realize how awesome it is to adopt a pet. We've been long-time fosters and adopters, and adopted our seventh dog this past January after our beloved Jo passed away. B saw her on Petfinder at Home-fur-ever rescue, and it was also love at first sight. She looks somewhat like your Tasha, but with more white.
As a professional groomer, I feel compelled to ask how Teddy does for that particular recurring event in his life. Sometimes, people tell us their dogs are not friendly, may bite, and they're great for us. Others tell us how sweet their dog is, and said sweetheart tries to eat our face. :)
What awesome stories. And yay for you and Phoebe (and Teddy, even though he doesn't realize it). I'm one of those couples you know who met online and are happily married. But my Only wasn't my first online love connection. I found our cat Kira through a rescue place in Utah. I only had her picture to go on, but the minute they brought her to my house to meet me and my daughter, she was ours. =o)
Jennifer -- And they love you! Your kitties are all adorable...but I still miss Saber. :-(
R.S. -- Yay for fellow adopters! Tasha was pit bull mixed with who-knows-what. What breed is your newest family member?
Teddy is great for our groomer UNLESS he knows I'm there. No one can touch him once he's seen me. We've got a routine down that works well. I bring him in, put him in a holding crate and then leave. THEN they take him out and they swear he's the sweetest boy. When I return to pick him up, I pay my bill first (conducting all business in whispers, lol) and they let him out to find me. It's a system that's worked for all of us for six years so we're sticking with it. :-)
B.E. -- Hurrah for love connections of all kinds made on the 'net! Kira is a cool name.
We made a love connection on Petfinder, though we didn't know it at the time. We went to see another dog, but while we were there we saw a smaller dog being squished by two larger dogs. When we got her out of the pen, the little dog clung to me like a baby. There was no way I was putting her back in that pen. She is a pit-lab mix, and is a sweetie-pie. We've had her for three years.
OH, I love this post. Teddy and Phoebe? How adorable...
I am allergic to dogs, unfortunately, and can only do the hypoallergenic kind. It's harder to find these types through adoption agencies but I am determined.
We have two daschunds. One is a mini and my husband gor him from his dad for our boys after someone else decided they didn't want him. He took a long ride in a semi truck from KY to MI to get here lol Hubby is a truck driver. His name is Weiner. I didn't name him obviously. My 3 boys did and i couldn't talk them out of it. The other dot is a brown reg sized dot and his name is Buddy. He came with the name. A older gentleman had him and passed away and the lady that cleaned his house got him and i saw him through my job one day and remarked about having one too and the owner asked if i wanted him. Seems they wanted a cat. I said yes and after a week of figuring out whose the boss the two dots settled in together. Weiner though small was here first and therefore rules the roost. lol
Lisa B
That is adorable! And she's so tolerant with Teddy who's clearly got short guy syndrome. It's heartwarming.
Jai
Gayle -- Petfinder works in mysterious ways. Tasha was a pit mix. Poor things are so misunderstood. They can be so sweet. What's the name of your special girl?
Liz -- I call Teddy and Phoebe "Mutt and Jeff". One's tiny, one's big. One's black, one's white.
I hope you find a dog of your own!
Moddoker -- Love the story of how you got your dogs and how they worked out who is "top dog". My little dog, Teddy, is top dog too....not sure if it's because he was here first or just because he's more aggressive, lol
Jai -- LOL, you nailed it....small dog syndrome can be quite amusing.
I kept laughing at how hard it was to get a match with Teddy. :) This sounds like it was meant to be!! What a cute pair. We got our Lily from the shelter. She was found on the side of the road at a gas station digging for food when she was only 8 weeks old! The guy who found her couldn't keep her so he brought her to the shelter. We were looking for an older dog and we were specific about the breed that we wanted. They didn't have any dogs that were "pit mixes" except her. They felt she was pure AmStaff, but she grew and grew and grew and she's 80 pounds now. Maybe mixed with some lab? She's just the best dog ever. We love her dearly - and two of the cats do as well. The third cat is just mean and nasty and torments her.
Jennie -- Teddy IS challenging in many ways, but we love him.
Your Lily is adorable. Pits have such a reputation, but they can be sweet loving dogs. So funny about the cats!
JB, our new pup (now 10 months) is Eva, seen here:
https://twitter.com/#!/citizen_word/media/slideshow?url=pic.twitter.com%2FxxpYvx8U
It must be the angle, because she's not really that tall and long-legged. She's pit and... something. People say border collie, I say maybe just lab. She's about 50 lbs.
Our last pit mix looked like pure pit, but she had thicker hair. Both pit mixes are/were sweet and funny as can be. The grooming salon I work at is pit-friendly, and honestly, every groomer I know would rather work on pit bulls all day long rather than chihuahuas. :)
Your story of dropping Teddy off at the groomer is one we're familiar with. It is true -- many dogs are awful around their owners, but once the owner is gone, they're sweethearts.
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