Josie’s Home!

Remember this dog? Then do you remember that we had to get rid of her in December?

Jaden had been sick off and on pretty much since birth. The doctor determined that he must be allergic to dogs, and we made the heartbreaking decision to get rid of her.

Justin had gotten her just before we got married from a co-worker, who had kept her in a garage. She was beat up pretty bad, bleeding from sores and skittish, but Justin fell in love with her. While the kids and I were in Chicago, she kept him company and got him through, and she also drove him so crazy that he almost got rid of her several times then. After we got here, she was amazing! She was a good dog, yet drove me crazy at the same time. Between her hair and her bad breath, I often merely put up with her. The kids adored her! They got so very attached to her.

But in December, we put her on craigslist and the first of like 8 people to call came by to meet her and we fell in love with the girl and the girl fell in love with Josie. We all sat in the living room and cried our eyes out before Justin took her to her new home.

Not a week has gone by when we don’t talk about her. Even last night, we had steak and Justin said, “Josie would have eaten well tonight.” We still missed her, though we were getting better and thinking we were ready to move on. In fact, Jaden had been around my mother-in-law’s dog last weekend, who has hair and dander similar to Josie’s, and he was fine. He’s not allergic. So, we sat at the dinner table last night and talked about getting another dog. We were ready.

I spent all night last night and a lot of time today looking for a dog online. I wanted one and Justin wanted one and the kids wanted one. We were ready to move on. Early this afternoon, I sent Justin a text asking him if he wanted to go check out a shelter or two after work.

So, after work, we went to the humane society and started looking around. We came to a room that didn’t have a dog in it but there was a sign that said “Josie”. Justin commented on it and I looked closer and saw that it was a Golden Retriever that was 3 years old. No way! That cannot be coincidence.

We asked a woman that told us a little about the dog and we knew from the description that it had to be her. They were using her as a tester dog. She is so good with other animals, they were using her to tell if dogs were good with other dogs. They brought her back and as soon as came around the corner, I knew it was her. She went straight to the kids and jumped on them and came and put her snout between mine and Justin’s legs (no smelling, in the thigh area). We ALL started crying! It was so crazy!!!! They took us to a holding room with her. I’m not sure why. All I know is that we all went crazy loving on her and crying and astonished and amazed and so very, very happy!

We got rid of her 6 months ago. In that time, she has been through at least 2 other families, as the people that brought her there had only had her 2 weeks and had had pups about 8 weeks ago. She is skinny, super skinny, her skin is black under her hair and her hair is falling out badly! She definitely could have been treated better. She had only been at the humane society for 5 days.

We’ve spent the night enjoying having our family member back. It’s been so emotional and just amazing! We took her to the vet as soon as we adopted her and got her hooked up, then went to Wal-Mart and bought her all the necessities. I just keep looking at her. I cannot believe she is here. I never thought I would ever be so emotionally attached to an animal, but it is sure good to have Josie home!!! And what a crazy way to get her back!