When I first started "dating" my husband I was a fur-mom to a bitty shihtzu, Pax. I named him that because he was the sweetest and most gentle soul, and Pax means peace in Latin. I knew that because of some peace flags I had purchased at a music festival (Dune Grass) right here in Northern Michigan many years ago, where I saw my musical love Martin Sexton for the first time ... I digress. Long story short we decided that life was too crazy with the new baby twins to have a dog SO he now has a fabulous new home in California, complete with a shihtzu girlfriend.
Fast forward to January 2013 and you'd find Bob and I discussing getting a puppy of our own. Pax was mine and mine alone, he never listened to Bob, we wanted a dog that was "ours". Bob thoughtfully and cautiously went through all the steps to find the right dog for us. We'd settled on a Dekker Rat Terrier, it seemed like the perfect breed. It came time to put down a deposit and I hit the brakes. Having just gone through the potty-training phase with a puppy only a few short years before I was all too familiar with their needs and demands. Our own human tots were 23 months (the twins) + nine months at the time. We liked the idea of all our "babies" growing up together, but I just couldn't fathom the idea of taking care of another 100% needy soul. Yet. So we called the whole thing off.
Fast forward again to last week. I don't remember exactly how it came up but we found ourselves, on a Saturday, at the local animal shelter. Bob searched online and found a beautiful two-year-old (read: housebroken!) Rat Terrier waiting for a forever home. We met him and interacted and he seemed disinterested in us, but something about him we really liked; could have been his playful puppy side or his beautiful pure bred doggy body, either way he was constantly on our minds.
Monday morning Bob called the shelter and set everything up for us to adopt the sweet Rat Terrier we're calling Bentley. Don't ask how many names he had before that one. Just ... don't. He was neutered that's the rule when you get a pure bred + a pound puppy around here and sent home with us. We bought him expensive holistic food, a leash and collar, snagged a kennel from a friend, and donated a loved pillow to his comfort cause.
We're still getting to know him, but hopeful that we've achieved the nearly-impossible and found a one-in-a-million kind of dog. Ayara started out hating him, and I mean flip-backwards-into-a-pile-of-toys-and-dump-out-your-raisins kinda hate, but even she is warming up nicely, offering to let him out of his kennel and saying "hello".
Welcome to the family, Bentley! [Adoption Day: Nov. 5, 2013]
Update Feb. 7, 2014: Bentley is no longer a part of our family as he bit Taylen in the face. Living with an unpredictable full grown dog was not a risk we were willing to take after learning our very hard lesson. He was returned to the shelter and without a doubt re-homed.
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