Introducing the Newest Member of our Family

I've been wanting a dog for quite some time. I just had to get John convinced that he wanted one too. He said he'd never have another one after our last one passed away. The emotional trauma is just too much. I figured after some time passed that he would change his mind, but it has taken six years to talk him into it.

Gracie and Cody

We first decided to get a Yorkie. They're small and seem pretty intelligent. We wanted to get one from a shelter or a rescue so that we would be doing a good deed at the same time as fulfilling our desires. I started looking into the rescues and it was unbelievable to me what the requirements were to adopt one of these dogs. They want to come to your home and do a home study. You have to fill out questionnaires and provide them with the name of your vet so they can call and ask how you took care of your last pet. Pretty shocking really what they expect people to go through to get a pet.

We were sitting up in South Carolina waiting on a load to take us home and I got onto the county shelter website for where we live. I couldn't believe some of the animals that they had there. It's sad to think what must have happened to the families of some of these pets that caused them to have to be brought there.

Who could ever resist this sweet little boy?

One of the first listings I saw was a beautiful all white male dog who was listed as a Maltipoo. Half Maltese, Half Poodle. He had only been there a couple of days. I immediately called and asked if he was still there and they said yes. I asked if they could hold him for me until the next day and they said no. First come first serve.

I told John I wanted to get home and go see this dog. I thought he was the one. John agreed and we went ahead and deadheaded home. The next morning we were at the shelter as soon as they opened. Cody, the dog we came to see, was still there. They put him and us in a playroom to see if we all liked each other and while we were in there, another woman showed up and was wanting to see him also. I told her no, he was ours. We definitely wanted him.

Poor little guy was underweight and needed groomed badly. We paid the fee of $100 which would cover neutering and shots. The only bad thing was that because of the holidays, we weren't going to be able to take him home for 9 days. They absolutely would not let us have him until he was neutered. We told them we would bring him back in and have it done when the vet was there, but they have their policies and would not allow it. It broke our hearts to have to leave him there for another 9 days!

We seriously discussed sneaking back there at night and breaking him out. The pens they are kept in allow the dogs to go back and forth from inside to outside. It wouldn't have been too hard to get him out. I was so worried about him because we were about to have some record breaking cold temps. Since we weren't really going to break the law, there was nothing we could do so I just put it out of my head and tried to focus on the holidays.

As soon as the day came to pick him up, we went back and got him. He was still groggy from the anesthesia. He looked so cute with his eyes out of focus and wobbling around. Poor little guy! We took him home and he got to meet the rest of the family. He was a hit and everyone loved him. He was introduced to our sons dog, Gracie. She's a black lab mixed with something else. She came from the same pound as Cody.

The two of them have become very good friends, we just have to supervise their playtime right now until he gets fully healed up. It will be nice to have Cody along with us on the road. He can be our ears while we're sleeping. I'm sure it won't take us too long to get him completely spoiled!