The Dog Fairy Came To Our House

Just in case I hadn't crammed enough into the weekend of the boys' first communion, I set a meet n greet for a potential new addition that Sunday afternoon.  Yeah, that's how I roll.  Brian just loves that about me!  ;-)

We had put in an adoption application some time ago with the local Boston Terrier Rescue group.  It was one of those things that if it happened and felt right - great, and if not, we weren't losing any sleep over it.  We'd been contacted about a few other dogs and had decided they wouldn't be a great fit for our family for one reason or another.  Then we heard about Minnie (I really dislike her name, but she's been through so much that I don't have the heart to change it, I just call her Minnie Mae and feel better about it).  Minnie is a recent refugee of a puppy mill, the kind you hear about in the news.  She'd been caged for her 6 years of life, she'd never felt grass on her feet, she didn't have a name, just a number, she had to drink out of a hamster water bottle instead of a dish, she still doesn't really know how to be picked up, she wasn't loved or nurtured by people.  You see where I'm going with this, right?  Those places are horrible!  Most puppy mills supply puppies to pet stores or sell their puppies online.  What that means is that this girl's puppies went off to loving warm homes, had happy endings, and she was left in a cage to continue to be used as a breeding machine.

Seem fair?  Yeah, not really!  Despite all of this, Minnie Mae is doing great with us!  While with her foster family she was spayed, had 6 teeth removed, and learned to go potty outside, as well as some basic commands.  She's continued her progress with us, but is pretty timid around Brian and the boys.  She's in love with me so I can't complain.  She follows me everywhere and gets so excited when I walk into a room that she "swims" and can't even get up to walk.  That's my girl!  She's doing great with Daisy and Henry too, that was a bit gradual, but no major scuffles.  I can't tell you how exciting it was to see her play with a toy, chase a ball, or chew a bone for the first time.  To just be a dog!  

And she loves to cuddle and snuggle with me.  The first few nights were a little emotional for me.  I'd sit by the fire and snuggle her and kept thinking about how many nights she sat in a cold dirty cage, how many nights she deserved to be snuggled and loved and wasn't, how many of her puppies got that life and she didn't.  It's still hard some days to comprehend because she's such a sweet, smart, lovable little girl.  

I also want to clarify that I'm not saying people shouldn't get puppies.  We did.  It's what I felt safe with when the boys were little.  But we went to responsible breeders.  They're out there, and they're easy to find!  At the same time, so are breed specific rescues if you have a particular breed you'd like to add to your family.  

We're so happy to have our new addition and to give her story a happy ending!  Snaggle teeth and all!