Adopting the Beast

I had always wanted a dog. Growing up, I had a few...but since I had moved out of my parents' house into my new apartment, I REALLY wanted one of my own. My roommate (who has the same first name as I do) and I talked about getting a puppy for the both of us so we headed out to the nearest shelter on a Saturday morning. We looked at all the cute puppies that had just come from a hoarding situation and a few medium-sized dogs whose owners decided they had rather surrender than take care of. My heart, however, always went out to the big doggies. I wanted a Great Dane! I wanted a huge Pit Bull! I wanted a dog that was as big as a human and would cuddle with me. So, as my roommate was off looking at the puppies, I made my way to the large pups. I looked through all of the kennels and saw the sad faces of the dogs who were too big to be in such small cages. I stuck my fingers into the kennels that were labeled "Danger: Do Not Pet Dog" because I wanted to touch the souls that were probably never shown love before (and none of them growled at me or attempted to bite me [imagine that]). I was bonding with every single dog that came up to me to be pet behind the ears. I was getting depressed that I wouldn't be able to take any of these dogs home with me....

And then I heard my roommate gasp. When I turned around, she was kneeling at a cage that held six Jack Russel mix puppies. As I walked over to her, I noticed that all six of the puppies were too terrified to come to the door of the kennel and let us pet them. So we called over a shelter volunteer to hand us two of the female puppies. We instantly fell in love with the babies. They cuddled into our necks and fell asleep; they trusted us. It was amazing to me that we formed such a strong bond with these small creatures in such a short time period. We knew that we had to narrow our choice down to just one puppy... until the volunteer told us that if we got one puppy, the other would be half off.

Our minds were made up. We were getting both puppies. We were going to be the proud parents of two VERY small, 3 month old Jack Russel Terrier mix puppies...but not until the Tuesday of the following week, when they were to get spayed. On the Monday before we were supposed to get our pups, my roommate called me saying that she had some "semi-bad news". I was immediately prepared to hear the worst--my puppy had died. Instead, she told me something that made me smile. The "female" puppy that I had picked out was actually a boy... I laughed at this news for the rest of the evening. I was just happy that my puppy was healthy and neutered...and that I would be getting it, for sure, the next day!!

Tuesday morning, I went to the clinic to get my puppy. After sitting in the waiting room for half an hour, the nurse finally called my name and told me that my puppy was about to come out. She failed to mention, however, that the puppy they brought out looked NOTHING like the puppy I had picked out at the shelter. I reluctantly grabbed the foreign puppy and tucked him under my arm. This wasn't my dog that I had made a connection with. This was some stranger's dog. I was really upset and I didn't know if I even wanted this little beast. I went out to my car and got ready to go home with the dog who was three times the size of the puppy I had fallen in love with at the shelter. I looked right in his eyes and told him, "You are not my dog. I'm taking you back." The way he looked back at me, with those adorable little brown eyes that stared right into my soul, told me that I was wrong. 

I scratched the top of his head, I touched my nose to his, and I cried for a little while. (I'm not a terribly tearful person but something struck my heart.) I realized that this puppy was going to be the dog that I truly fell in love with. He nuzzled his little head into my arm and fell asleep super quickly. I drove back to my apartment as fast as my Mazda would allow and I practically burst through the door to show my roommate my new dog son. One of the first things she said was, "That doesn't look like the dog you picked out." And we soon came to the conclusion that, even though he wasn't technically mine, I would love him as if he had been the first one I had laid eyes on. I kind of wanted a male puppy anyway...girl puppies seem like such divas (which has pretty much been confirmed by my roommate's puppy, Harper Belle). 

I let my little boy roam around the apartment and get used to his new surroundings, while I looked at his little tail that was (seemingly) permanently stuck between his legs. I kept thinking that he would be super scared and not trust me at all. However, he eventually started coming up to me and licking me. He also played with his toys that I had bought him and even laid in his bed when I showed it to him. He knew he was home. I was so happy that I had made the decision to keep this little pup. And I also knew that I definitely wanted this little Beast.