From the minute we walked through the doors of the dog area at The Asheville Humane Society I knew that I was going to have an incredibly hard time not bursting into tears. Animals pull on my heart strings like nothing else (except for small babies and children maybe) can. We walked through the dog area 3 times, stopping to pause along the way and look at the different dogs. Some of them came up to the door of their little room, wagged their tail and looked at us like "please take me home," and the puppies, OH oh oh the puppies, would do everything they could to get you to pick them up and give them some cuddles. Stephen and I knew going into it that we wanted to adopt a bigger dog, but not so big that Will would never be able to play with them. I had saw Sammie (previously known as Belle) on The Asheville Humane Society's facebook page and even though she never came up to the door of her enclosure to see us I still wanted to see her. We arranged a meet and greet with her that went well and then arranged for her to meet our dachshund, Will, because well he is a HUGE part of our family and if they didn't get along it just wouldn't work out. After seeing her and Will together I knew that I had to have this loveable part retriever/part shepherd in our family, SO....we adopted her and made her our own!
Since we brought Sammie home I have seen her slowly start to come out of her shell and blossom into a very happy girl! She was known at the shelter as "shy Belle," but with some extra love and attention she is turning into a more confident version of herself. I will not lie and say that her first week at home hasn't had some hiccups....she is a shelter dog who was a stray before being brought into the shelter, so she came with some issues that we are having to work with her on, this doesn't mean though that she didn't deserve her chance at a happy life. She has a very sensitive stomach that I have discovered through cleaning up several throw up messes, she at first had an aversion to being crated that most likely stems from her rough past, and she always wants to know where Stephen and I are out at when we're home because she doesn't yet understand that we aren't leaving her and she is here to stay, she also enjoys chewing on things that aren't toys lol. Please consider adopting a dog from the shelter that may need a little extra loving (I strongly advise that you consider all the different issues beforehand that you might have to work with them on), but the reward of a happy dog is SO worth it! I love seeing her tail (or moreso her whole backside lol) wag when Stephen gets home from work, the sweet look that comes over her face when she gets a belly rub would melt the hardest of hearts, and I love the way she puts her paw on my hand when she doesn't want me to stop petting her! I am so happy that the retriever, Sammie Sweetheart, is now apart of our life! For more info. on where you can find a list of animal shelters and adoptable pets in your area you can check out the ASPCA's website :)
No blogpost by me would be complete without some photos!! I took Sammie out in the yard at our new house (blogpost on that topic to come soon) and did a mini photoshoot and of course Will had to get a few shots too. Love my handsome boy and beautiful girl!
