6. Mid-Week Listicle: Meet My Three Dogs

Good morning sweet friends,

It’s time you meet some of the most important living beings in my life. My dogs. My dogs are so important to me. I can honestly say, I am still alive today because of my dogs. More on this later. For now, I’d like to introduce you to my three little loves.

1. Orlando

Orlando is my first dog, my first little love. I adopted him September 1, 2012. The veterinarian estimated him to be around one year old. I don’t know his full back story, but it can’t have been good. When I saw him at the shelter, he was trembling in his kennel. When I picked him up, he snuggled under my neck, sighed, and stopped trembling. Shelter staff said that it was the first time he’d stopped trembling since being there. I knew then that he had chosen me and he became a member of my family.

Orlando is an anxious, high-strung dog. Over the years he has grown more confident and comfortable, but he is still scared of new people. He has come around to loving other dogs though which is a huge step. Orlando turned eight years old this year and adores his sister, Dinah.

2. Dinah

When I bought my town home, I had room for another dog. Since Orlando was getting along well with other dogs, I decided it was time for him to have a buddy. Thanksgiving weekend 2017, I went to the shelter and saw Dinah. Dinah was a puppy mill rescue. The mill she was in was located in Texas. She lived in a cage her whole life, and was a breeder. Once she became too old to breed, she was put into a rescue situation. She was transported from Texas to a shelter in Oklahoma and from Oklahoma to here in Iowa. The shelter had cleaned her up a little and given her a spay but she was in extremely rough condition when I saw her in the shelter that day.

I introduced Brandon (my boyfriend) to her, and she fell asleep in his arms the same way Orlando did mine. We knew we couldn’t leave her at the shelter. We brought her home and started the healing process. Though the shelter had given her fur a buzz, she was still covered with urine and smelled…intense. She was weak from her spay, had an ear infection, an infected mammary gland, doggie pink eye, and rotten teeth. The first night home, she was too weak to move. I gave her water from a dropper and a gentle sponge bath to get rid of the urine smell. She wore a dog diaper for the first few months of living with us.

Once she built some strength up, she had a dental and continued to grow stronger. She is still a very complex and demanding dog medically, and emotionally, but she has come so, so, far and I love her, love her, love her. She turned thirteen years old this year. I’ll tell you more about her in future posts.

3. Maggie

Maggie was new to our family in May of 2019. I had just gotten through a big fish rescue (more on this later) and my fish tanks were full up. Late one night I said a prayer along the lines of “God, if you want me to keep rescuing your creatures, it should probably be one that doesn’t go in a tank. I’ve got a full house there.” In my head I thought, “maybe He’ll send a hamster.” The next day, I dropped Dinah off at my veterinarian for a groom and got a call from them. A little shihtzu was in a bad situation. She was five years old and had bladder stones and needed surgery. The family didn’t have money to pay for the surgery and wanted to euthanize her. The vet (BLESS HER) said that she would do the surgery for free under the condition that she be allowed to find a more appropriate home for the dog. See, the bladder stones had developed because the family was giving her a full diet of people food. She needed a better situation, and fast.

Since I had just said that prayer the night before, I agreed to take Maggie in as a foster. About a week later, Brandon fell head over paws in love with her and we decided to adopt Maggie into our family. Her bladder is doing great with a healthy diet of urinary specific dog food. She's the social butterfly of the neighborhood and thanks to her friendliness, I've now met most of my neighbors who I wouldn't have otherwise. 

So, that’s my little pack of pups! They keep me going and give me a reason to get up in the morning (and in Dinah’s case, sometimes keep me up all night too. Lol).

Do you have dogs? What kind and what is their story? I never tire of pet stories. Share in the comments below.

Until next time, stay cozy, friends,

Jessica

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