"How did your pet come into your life?"
"My wife and I love golden retrievers, lost our two close together about three years ago. We promised ourselves that at our age, (74 & 76) we weren't going to go through that again. Last week I took Jane over to a gun range. The lady there had a beautiful GR that Jane instantly fell in love with, and it was obvious it was time to get another dog. We decided on a German Shepard for me, and either a GR for Jane, or maybe a Border Collie. We found Gunnie at the Picayune Animal shelter, a Border Collie mix, and adopted him. He was our second rescue, and I told Jane we were done, two was enough. As Jane was playing with Gunnie while I waited on the paperwork, I wandered thru the kennel, and spotted a funny-looking four-tone little puppy. He was a golden retriever, but looked like someone had thrown three cans of paint at him! He was a golden, with a lot of white, that covered by big spots of brown and black! Then I looked at the name the shelter had given him, INDIGO, and I immediately went to the desk and paid the $250 adoption fee, although it was going to be a week before I could take him home, he being dewormed and neutered before that could happen. I also warned the shelter people that Jane WAS NOT to be told I had him. The rest of the week, Jane still pined for her GR, and I quite pointedly told her several times, "NO!" "Two dogs are enough!" She was still sad.
Finally Thursday rolled around, and with all the shelter people briefed, we "took Gunnie back to Picayune for some paperwork". While we were there, one of the shelter people told Jane, "I remember you liked Goldens?" "We did get one in, a little puppy, BUT HE HAS ALREADY BEEN ADOPTED." "Would you like to see him?" Once INDIGO, named such by the shelter people (Jane didn't know his name yet) was in Jane's arms, she was roundly smitten. But the shelter man kept warning her, "Don't get too attached now, like I said, he has already been adopted---we are just waiting for the man to pick him up." Jane carried little INDIGO back up to the desk where "I was waiting on Gunnie's paperwork." Jane was almost in tears, "Lee, could we possibly get the adopter's name, and find out if we might talk him out of adopting this little baby?" "Jane I TOLD YOU, TWO DOGS IS ENOUGH." "Can't we just try?" "Wheew, Jeeze. O-K, --mam, could we possibly get the adopter's name?"
"Well, we aren't supposed to, but let me look." (Much shuffling of papers while "She looked" for INDIGO's adopter's name. The papers were right in front of her all the time.) -----all the other shelter personnel, having been forewarned about this charade, started drifting around to witness all this.---
"OH, here it is!" "Hmm, the guy's name is, ---let's see---Oh, yeah." "Leland Taylor"
It took about fifteen seconds for what the lady had said to sink into Jane's brain, then she looked astonishingly at me, I grinned and shook my head, "Yes". "He's mine?" HE'S MINE???" And the tears started flowing freely. "Jane". I said, "His name is INDIGO." Then the waterworks really started bursting the dam, as she bawled and hugged her new dog. There wasn't a dry eye in the place.
Very important point. Jane is a highly-experienced Blue Water sailor, having lived aboard her 40' sailboat for over 12 years before meeting me, and had sailed her pride and joy from Florida to New Zealand. She loved that boat with all her heart, and about six months ago, we were finally forced to sell her.
Her sailboat, the love of her life. Named INDIGO." - Posted by Lee Taylor
"After losing a beloved chihuahua after 18 years, I decided to adopt a larger dog as I had large dogs in the past. When I discovered this girly girl at my local pound I took her home for a foster-to-adopt 2 week period. She turned out to be such a loving dog i decided to go ahead and adopt her and the shelter proceeded to tell me that she had been in shelters since she was very young and was deemed aggressive. Ha, she is far from aggressive but in fact she is just the opposite. We were meant to be together." - Posted by Joanne Kibbey
"We watched Petfinder for a few weeks and went to visit the shelter where we found our perfect match. We thought we were going only for a visit, but fell in love immediately! Kirby was so well mannered, happy and the ideal addition to our family. We're not sure who rescued who?!?" - Posted by Stephan