Adoption Tails

Every dog has a story to tell, and the most common among their owners is how their families become whole with the adoption of their furry members. Some are funny, some are sad, but all of them are unique to the family. Because we have two dogs, we have two stories. These are ours.

Daisy

At the age of 21, I was finally allowed to adopt a dog. I had wanted a dog so badly for the last two years, and my parents had disallowed it. Somehow I managed to get them to relent. It was two weeks after my birthday, and I drove past an animal hospital in my hometown that had a sign up: "Lab Puppies 4 Adoption."
I pulled into the parking lot and asked to meet them, expecting little wriggling babies. What I met was certainly not what I had pictured.
Daisy came sliding around the linoleum, her nails scratching underneath her. The handler let go of the leash and Daisy skidded to a stop at my feet. She rolled onto her back immediately and showed her belly to me. We played like old friends reunited after a long separation.
Finally, I asked about how I could take her home with me.
"Oh," the handler said, her face darkening. "She's already been adopted."
I didn't miss a beat. "If I can have cash here in thirty minutes, can we make this happen?"
The handler blanched and then nodded. "Sure." She told me the adoption fee, and we shook hands.
Thirty minutes later, I returned with the adoption fee and a little extra for the handler. She was on the phone with the woman who had put a deposit on Daisy. "We have a little girl here who's fallen in love with Daisy. Would it be all right if we returned your deposit to you so that she can take her home?"
The rest, as they say, is history. Daisy and I have been inseparable since.

Ten years later, it still cracks me up: little girl. I was 21.

Teddy

January 1, 2012 was an early morning for me: I had gotten off of work at 3 am, and got up to play with Daisy and my boyfriend at 9. He and I decided that a ride on the scooter was in order, and during the ride he remembered that he needed a heat lamp for his snake. We went to a pet store where the two employees behind the counter were talking about this little dog they couldn't sell, who was likely to be put down because he was getting to that danger point where he'd spent too much time in a crate.
I hated hearing that.
So I asked them to bring out the dog, said that maybe someone I knew would want one.
One of the employees vanished into the backroom and a moment later out bounded this long-legged, big skulled skinny little Rottweiler who was so excited to be free that he was peeing as he went. He was clearly underfed and...silly. So, so silly.
I knew it wasn't responsible, but I couldn't leave him there. He had been there for almost four months. Alone. Underfed. Unloved. So I asked them what they wanted for him.
"We just want him to go to a good home."
I paid only $200 for his paperwork, and brought him home later than night.

A little more than a year later, Teddy has seamlessly welded himself into our little pack.
Right now, the two of them are snuggled together on the couch, farting and snoring themselves into oblivion while I write this.