I realize this message is long overdue but as they say better late than never.
In October of 2009 I sent my fiance Haven over to your shelter to meet a puppy you had there by the name of Skippy. He was approx. 3 months old and about as cute as could be. The interest in Skippy was tremendous as is usually the case with puppies and ultimately he went to live with a family other than ours.
A few days later Sonya called us to let us know about a recent arrival that she thought we might be interested in. You called him Pudding. Interested? We'll be right there!
While we were out walking with Pudding and our dog Roxy a car pulled up along side of us and asked "is that Pudding?" This lady had come to meet him as well. My first instinct was to run fast and far but knew that acquiring a dog and then having to be on the lam for months was not an option.
Our walk back to the shelter was one of mixed emotion. I knew Pudding was our dog. I just knew it, but what I didn't know was if the decision makers at RAPS knew it too. After a brief conversation about Pudding (while the other lady was standing nearby) we left. As we drove away I almost cried thinking he might not be coming home with us. Tenacious as I am, I sent an email to Sonya immediately to let her know how much it would mean to us to have Pudding join our pack. Then the waiting began. Fortunately it wasn't long after that I received a reply to tell us Pudding was coming to us. HURRAY!
Pudding, who we now call Jake, was being neutered the next day so we decided to let him recuperate at the shelter for a few days. We went to visit him every day until he could come home with us. He was not a happy little dog. Big incision, nasty collar and living in a strange place. The first 10 days were trying ones. Jake wanted desperately to play with Roxy but his surgery put an end to that. Hiding under the bed, growling at us when we tried to move him and just being generally out of sorts we knew we were going to have to exercise great patience to allow this little guy to get comfortable with his new pack.
Patient we were and so was he. Since Jake has been with us he's attended a Halloween party, flown to Leduc, AB for a prairie Christmas (thank you to WestJet for letting small dogs fly inside the cabin and to the small child who sat behind us and howled louder than Jake) where Jake absolutely loved being out in the cold & snow, camping to Cultus Lake and on two road trips, one to Seaside, Oregon (running for miles on the beach) and the other through the Canadian Rocky Mountains back to Leduc. Trips to the beach, 3 walks a day, playing at the dog park, visiting the next door neighbours, keeping a watchful eye on the street from his perch on the window ledge and the occasional day at the office round out Jake's life with us to date.
With each passing day he gets a little more comfortable in our pack. He cuddles like no other dog I've ever known. He's silly and slightly indignant and a real sport putting up with our other dog Roxy who wants to play most of the time. After almost 10 months together I know now, as I did the day we met him, Jake is definitely the other dog we were looking for.
Thank you so much for the introduction. We are grateful beyond words.
Cassandra and Haven
p.s.
I've attached a few pictures of Jake.
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