Josie's Story

Growing up, I'd always wanted a dog. It wasn't as though I occasionally asked for a dog, acted sad when it didn't happen, and then got over it. It was more like daily begging and constant promises for what I would do just to be able to get a dog. I would try to bargain, make deals, even offered to pay for every vet bill and food bag and everything the dog would ever need. That was until my mother reminded me that the only money I got was from her and my dad. So that plan backfired. However, despite her constant reminders that we weren't ready for a dog, I was persistent to get one. But the years passed, and we kept on with our dog-less lives. And after birthdays and Christmases passed each year without me getting a dog, I began to lose hope. My mom was firm on us never being able to have one, and I sincerely thought my dreams would never come true. That was until November of 2013. She bought me a pit bull mix, and I loved him very much. The only trouble was that he had major anxiety, and couldn't be left alone. That was a huge issue, as my dad was at work all day, my mom was in school, and my sister and I were also at school. There was no way we could have someone home to crate train the dog, and it was unkind to him to leave him like that. Eventually, it got to the point where keeping that dog was too much stress for my mom, as he could get out of his crate by smashing the walls open, and would proceed to chew up Christmas ornaments and destroy the house. So, an exact week later, we returned him to the shelter.

I was once again devastated, believing I had lost my only hope of ever getting a dog. My mom promised me that she would get me a new dog as soon as she was out of school for the summer, but I honestly didn't believe her. She didn't want a dog. And I thought that even if she kept her promise, the dog would just be returned soon like our first one. On March 7, 2014, my mom took my sister and me to the Humane Society to go and look at dogs, because she knew how much that made me happy. I found it very fun to just go and play with all the dogs, big and small, that were in the shelter. When we got there we went to a little dog place called Tiny Town first, as we were going to get a small dog, thinking he/she would be easier to handle. We wanted to get an idea of what we wanted with our official dog that we would be getting in a few months or so. There were adorable puppies, sweet old dogs, but they were all going crazy and jumping around, like little dogs will sometimes do. So we moved on to the big dogs area, and found that they were much calmer. At the time, the shelter was being renovated. So there were two rooms for big dogs, a down and an upstairs. We soon went upstairs to see what was up there. And there, on the cage right in front of us when we arrived, was our future dog. She was small, and we had to wonder why she wasn't in Tiny Town with the other little dogs. As we approached her cage she looked away from us and pressed against the back of the cage. She was obviously very afraid, but we wanted to get her out and cuddle with her, to make her feel better. She kept giving us looks like she wanted to come say hi, but was just too afraid for something that might have scarred her from the past. We opened the cage door and sat around it patiently, not saying a word as she slowly became more comfortable with us. Named Opal at the time, she was so sweet and would tentatively slink over to greet us, eventually curling up on my lap and looking up at me with her beautiful and large brown eyes. We all fell in love. My sister and I refused to let her go, for the fear that she would be adopted. My mom reminded us that we weren't going to get a dog that particular morning, but we still wanted to spend as much time as possible with her as she was so cute and so sweet. We put her on the tiny dog leash and our mom told us to go outside and run with her, which she did. She was scared of everything and stuck very close to me, leading to me tripping over her on occasion. She wouldn't walk very fast, and would dart away when people got close. But she eventually warmed up and started to trot at a quicker pace. My mom called us back inside, where we took turns holding her and whispering comforts to her as she clung close to us, not wanting to be put down. What we didn't know was that our mom was currently adopting her. When we found out what she was doing, we were so excited, and I cried. The shelter so kindly gave her her first leash and toy, a squeaky spider that she still has and loves to this day, almost a year later. On the way home, we thought of names for her, and wanted a 'J' name, since my mom's dogs she had before we were born were Jessie and Jasper. We thought of Jemma, Jewel, and many others, but eventually I suggested Josie. My sister was reluctant to the name at first, but since the dog would be mine, as I would be the one to take care of her, she said that I got to name her officially. So we named her Josie, and all grew to love and and the name. She is such a sweet, quiet, and gentle baby that loves to now play fetch and "viciously" play tug of war (growl and paw at the toy). She sleeps in my bed every night, and is such a joy to have. We don't even need to crate her, as she is fine walking around the house and from day one didn't tear a single pillow and only a bit of house training was needed. We love our little Josie so much, and she has warmed up to our family and clings to us like a burr. She absolutely loves being held, it is her most favorite thing, as she so very enjoys being close to us and knowing that we love her. I could never wish for a better, smarter, sweeter little baby. We love the Humane Society, and we love our little Josie! Thank you for letting us bring this precious little angel into our lives!

-- Elena

#adoption #dog #success