The Story of Me

Minna Krebs is asking everyone to post "The Story of Me" to help celebrate her Gotcha Day. This is very, very timely for me because my own Gotcha Day is on Friday. That's right...Friday, November 26 will be the 1-year anniversary of when I was adopted by Mom!

Things are pretty good for me now, and I'm being spoiled absolutely rotten. Got my Mom trained pretty good, too. Life is good...but things haven't always been so good for me.

You see, two years ago I was dumped. Yep. A bad woman just dumped me out of the car and left me all alone on the streets. I was picked up by some people and I eventually ended up at Companion Critters, a rescue group in New Jersey. I was a lucky pup 'cause I didn't actually end up at a shelter.

So Companion Critters found me a new home and I went to live with those people. But then, after almost a year with them, they took me back to my foster home. I didn't do anything wrong...but I was returned. I was just turning 9 years old...and I have bad allergies...so lots of people considered me "unadoptable" at that point.

If you want to read about the rest of my story up until them, check it out over on the Companion Critters website. (It's a good read...especially since you know my happy ending! Oh, and it involves the cops getting that bad woman, too!)

Anyway, you may remember me talking about my sister Lexi-Lou. Well, she had a blog and a Twitter account. In September of last year, Lexi and Mom found out about me over on Shawnee's blog. (Lots of you know Shawnee -- she's a German Shepherd who has great hiking adventures!) Anyway, Mom fell for my cute little face. Over the next couple of months, Mom started talking to Shawnee's Mom, and they eventually decided that Mom and Lexi-Lou were going to adopt me and be my forever and ever family. Lexi and I were both Shih Tzus, and we were both almost the exact same age! Mom didn't think I was old...I was just the same age as Lexi-Lou. And my allergies weren't a problem at all.

But things were a little tricky. You see, Shawnee lives in New Jersey and my soon-to-be-new family lives in Illinois. Do you know what Shawnee and her Mom did, though? On Thanksgiving Day last year, they loaded up the car and drove me all of the way to Illinois so that I could have my forever and ever family. That was half-way across the country!

When I met my new family, I fit right in. Everyone thought I'd have to take some time to adjust, but I proved them wrong. I was playing with toys right away. I even helped unpack the toys that Shawnee let me keep from her house!

So that's my story. Pretty cool, huh? Mom spoils me rotten now, especially with all of the toys. But I really love toys, and Mom says she's just making up for the bad stuff I went through. I get scared sometimes that I'm going to be dumped again...or that I'm going to have to go to yet another new family. But Mom says that's not happening. She says that I'm stuck with her forever and ever.

My story isn't really complete, though, until I say one more thing...and that's a big THANK YOU to Shawnee and her mom. It's because of their love and dedication to their fosters that I was able to find my forever and ever and ever family. Thanks so much, Shawnee!