Pre-adoption (left) vs. post-adoption (right)!
(I apologize about this being so long, I cannot figure out how to put a cut on mobile!)
For the past 3 years, I have owned rats. Over the course of those 3 years, I loved and lost 7 boys who I deeply cared for with all of my heart. I knew going into it that their lives would not be longer than 2-3 years, but still, each death hit me hard and took its toll on me one by one. Although I loved every second I got to spend with them, and I learned a lot about love, loss, and grief, I knew that at some point I would have to take a break.
After losing my last rat, Goomba, very suddenly and being stricken with grief, I waited a few days before looking into local shelters to adopt a cat or a dog. I live alone in an apartment, and it felt too empty without any animals. I visited my first shelter just to look, I did fall in love with a cat and another dog, but the dog was already spoken for and I wanted to think about the cat first.
We decided to check another shelter that I had not ever been to. It was about 7pm (they opened 6-8:30pm) and we went in looking for two puppies listed on the website. While waiting for the puppies to be ready to be seen, I strolled down the aisle of dogs and said hello to everyone. It was deafeningly loud with barking, as shelters usually are, the dogs stressed, scared, or wanting attention. When I came across Peaches, she timidly wagged her tail and approached the kennel bars, licking me as I stuck my fingers through the gap. Her ears were back, and she literally looked at me with the sweetest eyes. I knew she was a poodle; my beloved first dog, Gigi, was a black toy poodle. I didn’t know Peaches name or any information at this point, so we were called back to an introduction room where the puppy was.
Although the puppy was ADORABLE, I knew that he would have no trouble being adopted if I didn’t. He was too scared to investigate and hid in a corner; I felt too bad forcing him to interact, so I decided to look at another dog. They asked who I would like to see, and of course I said, “can I please see the poodle?”
When they brought her in, they put her right into my arms where she settled. She is only about 6.7 pounds so it was no trouble to snuggle her. My mom (who went with me to help) and I were losing our minds over her! She was shaking and probably nervous, but she reminded us of Gigi with her poodle traits and those sweet eyes. I sat on the floor with her where she was reluctant to leave my lap, but eventually a switch must have flipped in her brain because she hopped out of my lap and began prancing around the room! I could tell she had warmed up and was happy to have some attention.
We asked if we could take her on a walk outside, so we got to take her on a small path around the shelter to see how she would do. She pranced right outside with us and was absolutely loving life. I literally knew at this moment that there was no way I could let them put her back into her kennel.
We sat down with one of the volunteers who then told us that her name was Peaches, she was 4 years old, and an ASPCA rescue from New York. They weren’t sure of the specifics, but they do know she was rescued from a very bad situation that the animal cops were involved in, most likely either hoarding or neglect (or even possibly a puppy mill). She also has bilateral luxating patellas, which is something he mentioned I would have to watch.
After lots of back and forth with my mom and I, even though we were both pretty much 100% sure, I adopted her! At this point it was about 8pm so we filled out the paperwork, paid for her, and got our picture taken, and headed home (Which is when I took the photo of her chilling in front of the Christmas tree ❤️). It has been a little over a month since then, and I can tell that she just loves life. I will post more about her quirks and antics but I wanted to introduce her with the full story!
