Growing up I have always had dogs. I am a dog lover through and through and I seriously would do anything for my little fur babies. However, up until recently all the dogs in my life have been “family” dogs. AKA, not necessarily my responsibility, haha.
Fast forward to Fall 2019; getting another dog truly wasn’t anywhere near my radar and I thought it was absolutely out of the question considering I did (and currently still do) live with my parents. That fall I needed to complete a capstone for my major so I could finally graduate college, and I chose to do community service because I didn’t have time to apply for more internships. All of that landed me at our local humane society- and while it was rewarding looking back, I have to admit some (most) of the work I did was not fun and I spent most of my shifts crying in the bathroom. Without spending too much time on this part of the story, the reasons for me crying were mostly dumb; first it was the poop smeared on the sheets and blankets that I had to wash and the smell that came with it, then it was having to wash wet pet food covered dishes in a sink and NO SOAP (imagine a sink full of water, wet pet food, and you having to be elbow deep in that with NO SOAP to cover the smell and the view. First that lead to gagging, then crying because I hate gagging), but then finally I saw a handful of owners surrendering their dogs that made me extremely emotional. And the worst part was that a lot of these dogs who were being surrendered were senior dogs- imagine living your whole dog life being cared for by this one person who ends up leaving you in a cold and lonely cage full of other crying and stinky dogs. How sad and confused would you be as a pup? Now, please note that I’m also not putting down the owners for choosing to surrender their pets because surrendering a pet is an extremely personal choice that they really may not have any choice but to do so to try and give their pal another chance at a better life- moving, health concerns for you (or the pet), not being able to afford it, etc. I’m a firm believer that once you adopt a pet, they are yours for life and it is your responsibility to make sure they are cared for to the best of your ability, and sometimes that does mean having to give them up to a safe space with the humane society. It’s a sad sitauation for both pet and owner that I never wish upon any of my pet loving readers here.
That whole story lead me to find a new “passion” in my heart; senior pets. It broke my heart to see a senior pet lose everything that they had and be scared and lonely in the cages of the humane society. From then on, I made it my mission to adopt a senior pet no matter what because I knew I was capable of giving it the love and care it needed.
I would text my parents and boyfriend pictures of senior pups each time I had a shift at the humane society. I even went as far as trying to meet a little old man shuh-tzu, only to find that once I had gotten there the next day to see he had been adopted.
I was about to give up my search as my time volunteering was coming to an end, and the only dogs in the shelter were far to big to take in unfortunately. So I left for the Halloween weekend, yodeled the night away seeing mason Ramsay in concert, and came back Monday morning and met my pup, Lexi!
She was in the first cage in the kennel and immediately I knew she was my dog and I was going to do whatever it took to bring her home. I also sent this pic to my boyfriend to let him know we were getting a dog and this was it. I immediately went to the adoption counter and placed her on hold while she finished undergoing her behavioral and health checks and prayed that my feeling was right and she’d soon be home with me. In the meantime I spent all my following shifts talking with her, giving her treats, opening the cages to hold her (even tho I wasn’t allowed to oopz), and showing her pictures of my family and boyfriend so she knew who she would be coming to live with soon like the sane person I am.
That Saturday morning, we got a call that she was ready to come home and we were able to meet her to make sure it was a good fit! My parents also have a dog that lives with us so they had to make sure the two dogs would get along so I dressed him in his best bow tie and threw on the first sorority T-shirt that I could find since that’s the only clothing I owned and we all packed in the car to meet the pup!
This is were we learn a little more about her story; Lexi was a stray in Louisiana found after the flooding that had been going on back then. The shelters were overwhelmed from all the strays found, so she had been transferred to Michigan which is where I found her (duh). Unfortunately she didn’t come in pristine health, we are not sure how long she was stray before, but In my opinion she had either been stray for a long time, or her previous family did not care for her properly. She had very bad matting of her fur that lead to skin irritations, and she also had ulcers in both eyes from overgrown fur on her face that had been treated at the humane society. When we got her, Lexi was full grown but only weighed FIVE pounds. I still remember how little and fragile she felt in those early days with her. The humane society also estimated that she was about seven years old which qualified her as a “senior dog”. (Ps. If you didn’t know November is senior dog awareness month so I actually ended up adopting her for F R E E)
I’ll be honest and say that I was nervous to bring her home due to her eye conditions since I had never had a pet with those issues before, but the minute I held her she licked my nose and rested her head on my shoulder and I remember thinking, “shit, I’m really getting a dog today”. Obviously this is what I wanted, but I was both nervous and excited to care for her and make her my little baby dog!!
I love this as our first family pic because she looks so mad that we are bringing her home, hahaha. I guess I don’t blame her, I’d be grumpy too if I went through everything she had.
So we adopted her and took her home and she has been the best, and most loving pup ever since! I will argue that she is NOT 7 years old because she looks and acts younger in my opinion, but I guess that will be a mystery we never will know.
Lexi’s first few days with us were an adjustment period. She peed on the floor and rejected all food we tried to give her. We didn’t think she barked but soon learned that she does bark and it’s actually her favorite hobby. I taught her how to use Snapchat and we worked on her selfie skills (the picture above was her first selfie ever).
She quickly found a love for toys and now has a collection any dog would envy. Her favorites are any type that has an extremely loud and obnoxious squeak sound to them.
With a lot of love, the right food to help her get to a healthy weight, and a good haircut she was looking and feeling like a whole new dog! I seriously can’t believe how far she has come and am so glad that I was the one to be able to rescue her.
I say it all the time, but I truly believe that dogs know what you do for them and are always grateful, especially rescue dogs. I was there with Lexi from the second she had been transferred to the humane society and took her home and I can see how thankful and happy she is to be in a safe home like ours. In the short time we have had her, we have spoiled her with treats and toys, she even gets to go on vacations with us and she loves riding in the car. I’ll include some of lexi’s greatest hits here before I end out the post:
I hope you enjoyed reading Lexi’s story! And I hope this encourages you to check your local shelters for pups in need, no matter how old :)
If you ever have any questions about adopting a pet, shelters, senior dogs please leave me a comment! I love talking about dogs and especially rescuing pups.
Thanks for stopping by,
Angela
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