Monday, January 23, 2012

puppy love

There's someone we'd like you to meet...



Hello, Lincoln.



I wasn't sure about a new puppy. I love dogs, I do, but puppies are work. Nipping, yapping, peeing, toy-chewing, wake-you-in-the-middle-of-the-night work. Several of those issues are already well tended to in this house. And really, I didn't think I was ready to open up to another dog. The last one's farewell is still a bit tender for me. But things have a funny way of working out.



One evening, I saw a lovely german shepherd in the background of a news clip, a dog pretty enough to send me back to the pet adoption sites I've tried to avoid. We knew we wanted to adopt our next dog, preferably as a young dog, and hopefully with a bit of shepherd in him. I searched, and there he was.

His mama was a shy white shepherd, rescued from a bad breeder by the fantastic Echo Dogs White Shepherd Rescue. Echo Dogs is a nationwide, volunteer run, not-for-profit organization that does an incredible job caring for and placing these beautiful animals. There aren't enough superlatives to express how thoroughly impressed we were with this group and its volunteers at every step of the adoption process.



On that Wednesday evening, I sent out a hopeful e-mail to inquire about these pups, not knowing where in the country they were or if they were still available. That night, I received a response and a link to the application, which I immediately filled out. Bright and early the next morning, a call came in from New Hampshire to follow up on our application. There were still pups in need of homes, and they were a mere 30 minutes south of us! Families were flying in from far away places to adopt these dogs, but all we had to do was hop in the car.



By noon, the representative had spoken with our vet and our three personal references. Less than 24 hours after submitting our application, another volunteer from Echo Dogs was in our living room, carrying out the home visit required for adoption approval. The next morning, we met our pup.



Everything came together so smoothly it's easy to believe this was meant to be. Everyone is adjusting here. The pup is settling in, the children are ecstatic, Matt and I are taking turns tending to the pup's middle of the night needs. As for Mickey, our lab, well she might just be the happiest of all.




Ah, puppy love!

7 comments:

Anita Vaughan said...

Congrats on your new addition. He's adorable!

Amanda Greco Holmes said...

Thanks, Anita! We have to get Lili over here to play with him!

DeLynn said...

So sweet! S. told me about him at dance but I am glad I got to see pictures too! Dog rescues and shelters are great places to get pets.

Laura Cox said...

This is priceless!!!

Joyce King said...

Thanks for all the nice things you said about Echo Dogs.

Sandra's Olsen Braun said...

Hiii! Love love love the pics of the two dogs laying together and touching noses ... How sweeeeet! Thanks for the kind words about Echo Dogs ... I'm a foster mommy with Echo :) Congrats and thank you for adopting!

Orb Weaver said...

So sweet! I can't wait to meet him. I love the picture of Charlotte sleeping on you and the pics of Mickey and Lincoln sleeping together. Precious! I'm so happy it worked out for you guys! He is a lucky pup.