18 Apr 2009, Posted by christie in Pets, 0 Comments

The wonderful story of two doggies finding their forever home

Last year I “met” an incredible animal lover online, and when I said on Twitter that I sure wish I had some doggy pictures for my blog, she immediately answered me and sent me lots of great pictures as well as the wonderful, heartwarming story of her two dogs. One more thing about her, before I give you the doggies. In order to do everything she can for cats and dogs who need it, she offers free graphic and web design services for no-kill animal shelters and rescues! Isn’t that awesome? Her name is Krissy Gogel and you can check out her website and blog. Now, the doggies. You can hover over the pictures to see their captions, and here are their stories in Krissy’s own words:

I met Daisy back when I was in middle school many, many years ago. She was an adult stray that one of my neighbors had taken in. They obviously didn’t have the patience that is required to “house break” an adult stray. Instead of training her and getting her to do her “business” outside, they just opened their gate and screamed at her until she left – it was heartbreaking! She wandered around our busy city neighborhood, chasing cars and getting into trouble. I couldn’t take it! I brought her home and fought with my grandma to keep her. Eventually, I won and got to keep her. She was quite a handful for the first year or so: jumping the fence, barking at everything, chasing squirrels, and chewing up everything that she could find. She eventually calmed down and ended up being my grandma’s best friend – more so than mine! My grandma passed away in 2000 but her best bud Daisy is still with me. She’s at least 15 years old now. Despite having a bad back, having tumors removed from her stomach and having a bunch off teeth pulled, she still has all of her spunk! About 3 years ago, my husband and I decided to find her a new 4-legged companion…

We adopted 8 week-old Maxx from a local animal shelter right before Christmas in December of 2005. The shelter had rescued his mother, a Sheltie mix, while she was pregnant. We were told that he would grow to be about Daisy’s size – a small to medium type dog. The poor boy cried and cried for days after he arrived to our home. His mother and all of his siblings had already been adopted out – he was the last of his family to find a home and was very sad and lonely. But after he got to know Daisy he felt right at home! I definitely get the same feeling that a lot of other “rescuers” get that these dogs know and appreciate that you rescued them. Maxx ended up being more of a handful than I had expected! He grew, and grew and grew. He passed Daisy in size when he was only a few months old and now weighs close to 60 lbs!

I am very glad that my husband and I were the ones who adopted him because not everyone would have tolerated his puppy behavior. He was that puppy who literally ate our couch, ripped up things like phone books into tiny shreds, and “walked” us whenever he was on a leash. Despite all of his undesired behavior, he is the most loving dog in the world! Maxx is still a very energetic dog who enjoys playing fetch, Frisbee, swimming, running, wrestling with Daisy. Both he and Daisy are two of my best friends and have been wonderful additions to my family.