The Heart of Strangers: Saving Our Dog

This last year has been filled with rough times and other times filled with joy. One of the rough parts was finding out the home we had been renting for over 3 years was going into foreclosure and we had 30 days to move. After the shock, tears and anger of why someone we knew as a friend would let this happen that our rent was not going to where it should have been, the bank! (That is another story in it self lol)

We went into survival mode of where are we going to move to and can we find a spot in such short notice that would fit our needs, including our loving dog Dakota. She is a big black lab and many places we found had weight limit restrictions. As the time grew closer to the day we had to leave we started to panic. We found no rentals that would allow us to have a pet of her size. We started to post ads about our dog needing a home and why with no responses. It was about 5 days until we had to move and we cringed to think that our sweet loyal would not hurt a fly dog would have to go to the shelter. All the thoughts of her being in a cage, wondering where her family went, wondering why she was not home. The tears and sadness of wondering what would happen to our dog that was our first baby (she is 7 and our son is 3) was overwhelming on top of where on earth were myself, my husband and son going to live.

Our ads online got even more desperate in our plea for a good home to adopt our sweet dog. I did not want to look back at her many years of photos with sadness and have to explain one day to my son that the sweet pup in all the photos since the day he was born was a dog that was sent to the pound. I wanted to look at those pictures with joy of the fun times we spent with the dog and how much my son loves her and calls her his Kosha and says he loves her.

A few days before Thanksgiving we had a few people interested in meeting her. Many texts, phone calls and pictures passed but nothing ever seemed the right fit for her. When we only had 3 days until moving day we finally had a family that contacted us that seemed perfect for her. I prayed our dog would find a good home, we had found a place to move to but we could not take the dog, it seemed so sadly unfair that we would go to a new home and enjoy the joys of Christmas and she would go to a shelter. Older dogs get over looked in those places, I was so scared for her.

I messaged back and forth to a woman about Dakota how sweet she is, how happy go lucky about life she is, she adores kids, wouldnt hurt a fly, she is papered, she is crate trained, bell trained and they started to fall in love with the idea of helping her too. This family was so generous to take Dakota, they did not really have room for her they have kids and many dogs already but did not see a lab like her go to the shelter. After meeting the woman's husband when he came to meet Dakota I knew this family would treat her right and help her find a loving home. I found out the husband grew up on a farm and hunted with his own Dad with labs. He adores them and his wife knew if he heard Dakota's story and met her that he would have to save her. His wife was right! He made arrangements to come pick Dakota up the next day, only 1 day before we had to pack the moving truck and go.

When he arrived to pick up Dakota we did not let our son see her and all her stuff get packed into his truck for her to leave. I knew my son at 3 years old would be devastated and would never understand why his best friend was leaving. A good friend stayed inside with him while my husband and I walked her out to the truck with all her cute collars, dog toys, favorite bones and her crate to say good bye. When we were telling her bye, we loved her and everything would be ok my voice choked up and tears ran down my cheeks. Dakota whimpered a bit, I am sure she was wondering what on earth was going on, we are all she has know for 7 years, we were her only family she had ever had. When she was ready to go the man put his hand out to shake mine and I pulled him in to hug him and thank him with all my heart. My husband hugged him and thanked him too. He was just a stranger who came into our lives when we needed someone to care enough to help.

This family wasn't rich, they had no room to spare but they had a loving heart and sometimes thats all it takes.

They have even kept us updated over the last month about her condition. She did have a skin irritation that they paid for her to have fixed, found out she has a begin tumor that might need an operation and found her a permanent home with a loving family they selected. They sent us a picture of Dakota in her new home, she looks happy, her tail is a blurr in the picture since she is wagging it so fast. I am over joyed that this family took her in and then found her a permanent home. There are so many sad stories about animals getting left on the side of the road and abused that a good story like this with a happy ending is worth sharing. :)

Now we can look back on all the pics of her in our lives and be happy knowing she found another family that loves her in her journey of her life as a dog. 

But wait. Am I even a dog person?

Meet Chewie!!!

~ By Sam ~


I have never thought of myself as a "dog person." We had dogs in and out of our lives growing up, they were never long term though. My Mom was so busy with 5 kids that adding a dog to the mix always seemed overwhelming to her and to our lives. I believe you are a dog person or your not. My husband's family had dogs when he was growing up that lived for 15+ years. They are dog people. I have questioned whether or not I am a dog person. I like dogs, I want my kids to have a dog growing up but with three small children a dog was not in our immediate future... Until now.

It kind of happened suddenly. My little brother (who's 25 years old) text me two weeks ago telling me that he was going to start working more and more hours at work and he was worried about his 5 month old puppy.

*Side Note* You see my brother is a bachelor living in an apartment in Seattle and got a Boston Terrier/Bulldog puppy. He was only working four hours a day and has a roommate that would help out with the pup when he was gone.

Ok, now back to the text I got. He tells me that he is going to have to figure out what to do with his puppy named Chewie. Can you say Star Wars nerd? Just kidding love you bro :) Anyways he is all upset that he will have to give him up and doesn't think it's fair for Chewie if he has to be gone all day. I feel bad for him and Chewie (who I had never even met yet) and tell him he will figure it out.

A few minutes later the next text I get is, "Do you want him?"

My thoughts: Ummmmm what? A dog? Here at my house with my crazy life? A puppy who has lived a nice quiet life in the city with two bachelors and no backyard, small children or 24/7 noise?

There is a bit of awkward silence (as much as there can be with a text) and suddenly there is a picture of sweet little Chewie. That sneaky brother of mine sent a picture!

My thoughts: Oh dear, he is cute. And the boys would really love him. And JJ was just talking about wanting a dog. And the poor guy would have to go to strangers if we didn't take him. And oh dear, he is cute. 

So I text him back that I will have to talk to the hubby.

My thoughts: Surely hubby will say no. We are already knee deep in kids and a puppy is just like adding another baby. Surely he will say no and I won't have to be the bad guy!

I thought wrong. The first question my hubby asks me is how big is he? Oh my he is not saying no! We are doomed. As the day goes on there are many texts between me, my little brother and the husband. And as you can see by the end of the day we had a dog. The next day we took the boys to my brothers apartment in Seattle to pick up their new dog. It was exciting and special. The boys were ecstatic and my little brother was happy he was going to stay in the family. My brother knew that we would love him and he could come and visit whenever he wanted. It has been almost two weeks now and things are going really well. He is just as sweet as can be, loves the boys and is even good with the baby. He is blending nicely into our family and we just love him. So maybe I am a dog person after all? Or maybe not, it may still be too early to tell (wink wink.)