My Adoption Story

BlogPaws and BISSELL are having a blog carnival to raise money for the Petfinder Foundation. A blog carnival is when lots of blogs focus on the same topic. The topic for this event is "my adoption story." If you know me or if you've followed my blog for long, then you probably know that I have one whopper of an adoption story...

After I was born, I lived with one family for a few years. Then I went to live with a woman and a kitty and another Shih Tzu like me. Then one day out of the blue, my owner passed away and another woman took me and the other pets and put us in the car for a ride. One by one, though, she stopped and dumped each one of us out of the car. Yep. SHE DUMPED US OUT OF THE CAR.

So all of the sudden I was all by myself, out on the streets. A little doggie alone in the scary world.

Within a couple of days I ended up in a foster home for Companion Critters, a rescue group in New Jersey. I was scared and hid under the table for a while. But eventually I got more comfortable again and then they found me a nice new home. Or so we thought. About a year after I thought I found my forever family, they actually took me back to the foster home. They said that they couldn't keep me anymore.

I was nine years old then, and my allergies were really bad, too. So, I was actually considered a "less adoptable" dog, if you'd believe that. Hard to find a nice new home with that sort of label.

After I was returned to the rescue group, though, my foster sister Shawnee wrote about me on her blog. That's when my TRUE adoption story started. My forever-and-ever mom read about me on Shawnee's blog and totally fell in love with me. (But who could blame her, right?!) She didn't think I was a "senior" dog since she already had a Shih Tzu who was almost my exact same age, Lexi-Lou. And she didn't think my allergies were a problem, either.

So my foster Mom and my soon-to-be-new Mom talked and talked and finally decided that I was going to move from New Jersey to Illinois to live with my new Mom and my new sister Lexi-Lou. And you know what else? My foster Mom and Shawnee actually drove me the entire way! Yep...they delivered me safe and sound to my new home.

They told Mom that it would take me a few days to get over the shock of the new home and to really start playing and settling in. I knew that this was my forever-and-ever home, though, so I actually helped unpack my own toys. I made myself right at home. By the next morning, I was rolling on my back, playing like crazy! We've actually got video of that, too...

Now I'm spoiled rotten. Absolutely spoiled rotten! But, Mom says she's just making up for all of the bad stuff that I've been through. Makes sense, don't you think? I WAS dumped out of a car, onto the street, you know. Oh, by the way -- you know the bad, bad woman who did that? She didn't know that I had a microchip. And she didn't know that my old neighbors really loved me and worried about me. With the microchip, the neighbors, and the awesome rescue group, the police actually had enough evidence to get that bad woman!

Now part of the BlogPaws Carnival is actually to also tell about the happiness that I've brought my new Mom. I'd think that's pretty obvious, though, if you look at how spoiled I am. He he he.

---

From Buttons' Mom:

Buttons' adoption story took a pretty difficult turn for me not long after I adopted her. One week after Buttons came into our lives, my Lexi-Lou passed away unexpectedly. My dogs aren't "pets," they're my children. I was completely crushed when Lexi died. Buttons hadn't really bonded with Lexi yet, so she wasn't affected by the loss.

Three or four weeks later, then, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Three months after that, my father's health took a bad turn. A month later, he passed away.

Why am I telling you this? Because I honestly believe that God placed Buttons in my life specifically because of the grief that was coming. Buttons is a funny, creative, crazy little girl. In the middle of my pain and loss, she could still make me laugh with her antics. She wasn't doing anything special...she was just being herself. And I don't know what I would have done without her bringing that humor and love into such a dark time. So to me, that's a big part of her adoption story.

And I'm pretty sure that's part of the reason she's spoiled rotten now, too...

---

Enough sad, mushy talk from Mom. It's time to leave you with some cuteness. (Can you believe what those other families I had are missing out on now?! He he he.)