Sometimes life takes you on a path and you don't know where you are going until you get there. That was my last week or two!
For the past year, I have been BEGGING my husband to add another to our family. Now, if we were talking of the human kind, he would have been all over it. But, no. I wanted a new fur ball. I can't explain WHY I wanted another dog...I just knew I had this deep desire to take care of something, to share our good fortune with.
After a year of looking on Petfinder, I found a sweet dog in a rescue. I contacted the Henrico Humane Society to inquire and was told to visit Petco that Saturday as that particular dog would be on display. I convinced my husband and kids (no real convincing the kids, lol) to go take a look at it and off we went. When we arrived 5 minutes after opening, "our dog" was already being picked by another family. I was told that I could put in an application and that if our home was deemed a better fit, the dog would be ours. But, after hearing the other family say their dog had just passed away and seeing the love they already had for this one, we decided to leave. It wasn't meant to be.
Since I had my husband "in the mood" we made a trip to the Richmond SPCA. WOW! That place is incredible and such an amazing facility to care for helpless animals. After viewing several dogs, I fell in love with the ugliest of faces, a Pit-Bull mix. He had a face only a mother could love but a heart of gold. We were interested so we had them bring in a cat to "test" him. Lets just say it didn't go so well. Sorry buddy, my cat still has about 5 lives left. There was another dog we liked as well, an 8 month old black lab. We tested him with a cat and he passed with flying colors. We were seriously considering him, but were told another family put a "hold" on him so they could bring in their dog and test to make sure they would make good companions. That's probably a good thing as I really wasn't prepared for an 8 month old, 65 pound puppy! It wasn't meant to be.
On Martin Luther King Day, I talked my husband into visiting Henrico Animal Control, the pound. We didn't think it would be open, but to our surprise, it was! I had my eye on this beautiful Golden Retriever that I viewed on their website. We went in and met him in cage number 8. Beautiful dog, but in about 10 seconds I just knew it wasn't the dog for us. It wasn't meant to be.
As we were about to leave, one of the workers at the Henrico Animal Control said, "you know, just about 15 minutes before you came in, a man surrendered his dog because he is moving and can't take him with him. He sounds like what you are looking for. His name is Jake."
She brought Jake into the viewing room and it was pretty much love at first sight. He loved my kids, he didn't jump...he just whimpered with joy. It didn't take long for us to snatch him up. He did have to spend one night in the facility as they have a policy that the dog must be fixed before leaving. So, we set up the surgery for the next day and went and retrieved our new love about 24 hours later.
To wrap up this ridiculously long story, Jake is a FANTASTIC dog. I can not believe someone gave him up! It turns out he does have a very bad ear infection which needed some medication as well as a procedure to start the healing process. And, we noticed Jake is a little scared of men. But, since my husband has showed him nothing but love for the past two weeks, he has become my husbands shadow!
I now feel our family is complete. And I know this dog was destined to be with us. When I look into his eyes I can almost hear him say "thank you" and to show us how grateful he is, he makes his nightly rounds to check on the kids and then sits at the front door on guard. My hero! It was meant to be.
If you are looking to add a new fur baby to your family in the Richmond area, please consider a rescue or shelter animal. Below is a list of just some of the places where you can get started on your search!
Richmond SPCA
Henrico Humane Society
Henrico Animal Control
Hanover Animal Control
Hanvoer Humane Society
Lab Rescue of Greater Richmond
Richmond Animal League
PetFinder
Looking for a home of your own? Contact me, Shannon Milligan at Home Sweet Henrico with Keller Williams Realty, and let me light your way to home sweet home on the Henrico County Real Estate and surrounding Richmond Real Estate market!
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