120mm
Member
Yeah... I'm that guy who bores everyone in the general area about my dog.
I grew up around dogs as a kid; my dad and I raised, trained and sold stock dogs (Australian Shepherds) so up to the age of 18, I did dog every day of the week.
Problem is, when I left the house, I went into the military and spent the next 36 years wandering around the planet, making a living and having adventures. Couldn't have a dog of my own. I DID interact with strays and OPD (Other Peoples' Dogs) as much as possible.
So October two years ago, I went on what I said was my last deployment, to Herat, Afghanistan, working for the Italian Army, and my wife and I agreed I would come home a year later and Get A Dog.
Because I'm basically stupid, the following January, I saw a series of pictures of a dog on the local shelter's FB page
I immediately forwarded them to my wife, who responded with "You idiot. It's January. No WAY will that dog be available in October. Why do you always do this?"
So, properly chided by my lovely bride, I went back to doing work with the Italians.
Fast forward to the following October, I'm home for a couple days, when the local animal shelter had a "Free large breeds" adoption Saturday. As I casually fired up the Land Cruiser, my wife's last word to me were "You are NOT going to adopt the first dog you see. In fact, you are NOT going to adopt a dog today." I assured her I was only going to look around and see what's available, with the promise of visiting a few other shelters in the area later.
So, I arrive at the animal shelter, and to my credit, none of the dogs I saw as I walked through the place lit my fire. Until I got to the last cage on the right.
And There. She. Was.
The exact same dog.
Seems that she had been adopted back in January, but her new family took her for a walk and she was attacked while on lead by another dog, and torn up quite badly. The family decided to return her to the shelter, rather than pay for the vet bills. It'd taken from January to October for her to heal at the local vet school, and this was the first day she was available for adoption.
We bonded in about 45 seconds, and yes, I came home with a dog. Luckily, my wife has also fallen in love with this sweet baby.
Unfortunately, my retirement has ended for a lot of reasons, and I am on a 4 month on, 4 month off deployment schedule, so I miss my wife and Lela, our lovely pup. Looking forward to mid-June, when I can spend 24/7 with them both again.
Anyone else have some cool adoption stories for dogs?
I grew up around dogs as a kid; my dad and I raised, trained and sold stock dogs (Australian Shepherds) so up to the age of 18, I did dog every day of the week.
Problem is, when I left the house, I went into the military and spent the next 36 years wandering around the planet, making a living and having adventures. Couldn't have a dog of my own. I DID interact with strays and OPD (Other Peoples' Dogs) as much as possible.
So October two years ago, I went on what I said was my last deployment, to Herat, Afghanistan, working for the Italian Army, and my wife and I agreed I would come home a year later and Get A Dog.
Because I'm basically stupid, the following January, I saw a series of pictures of a dog on the local shelter's FB page
I immediately forwarded them to my wife, who responded with "You idiot. It's January. No WAY will that dog be available in October. Why do you always do this?"
So, properly chided by my lovely bride, I went back to doing work with the Italians.
Fast forward to the following October, I'm home for a couple days, when the local animal shelter had a "Free large breeds" adoption Saturday. As I casually fired up the Land Cruiser, my wife's last word to me were "You are NOT going to adopt the first dog you see. In fact, you are NOT going to adopt a dog today." I assured her I was only going to look around and see what's available, with the promise of visiting a few other shelters in the area later.
So, I arrive at the animal shelter, and to my credit, none of the dogs I saw as I walked through the place lit my fire. Until I got to the last cage on the right.
And There. She. Was.
The exact same dog.
Seems that she had been adopted back in January, but her new family took her for a walk and she was attacked while on lead by another dog, and torn up quite badly. The family decided to return her to the shelter, rather than pay for the vet bills. It'd taken from January to October for her to heal at the local vet school, and this was the first day she was available for adoption.
We bonded in about 45 seconds, and yes, I came home with a dog. Luckily, my wife has also fallen in love with this sweet baby.
Unfortunately, my retirement has ended for a lot of reasons, and I am on a 4 month on, 4 month off deployment schedule, so I miss my wife and Lela, our lovely pup. Looking forward to mid-June, when I can spend 24/7 with them both again.
Anyone else have some cool adoption stories for dogs?
