Memorable Moments: The Story Of How We Went to Home Depot for a Faucet and Came Home With a Dog

This is the story of how we ended up with a dog. Four weeks ago started as all of our Saturdays do, lazily. I staggered out of bed late, had my morning cup of coffee and bowl of cereal, then chatted with Steven about our plans for the day. As is the case every weekend, I had a hefty to-do list that included running errands. I thought it would be fun to grab a bite for lunch and run errands as a family. One of the places we needed to go was Home Depot, the plan being to replace our leaky kitchen faucet. As it happens, the new Humane Society adoption facility is right next door. On a whim Steven proclaimed, "We should go look at dogs! I really want a dog". This proclamation caught me completely off guard since I have been asking for a dog for years and my pleading was always met with an enthusiastic no. Believe it or not, I hesitated. As much as I wanted a dog I knew adopting one wasn't something you do on a whim. We needed to do our research and find the best breed for our family. Against my better judgement I agreed to look. When we entered the area with the dogs my eyes flooded with tears. Most of the dogs were large breeds, no doubt given up when they were no longer cute puppies, but large active dogs. Steven was the one who pointed out Zoe (Natalia was the name the HS had given her). I had overlooked her because she was quietly huddled in a corner, the complete opposite of the other dogs who were actively trying to gain the attention of anyone who walked by. We stayed for awhile, then left. I breathed a sigh of relief when we did because we had not given in to temptation . . . yet. When we made it to our car Steven paused and said he wanted to meet Zoe. My heart started to pound and my hands became sweaty as we made the decision to go back and meet this shy girl who caught Steven's eye. I'll try to wrap this up. We went back and it was literally love at first sight. She had such a sweet and calm disposition that we knew immediately she would be a great fit for our family. As we signed the paperwork making her ours I kept thinking, "I can't believe we are doing this"! And, in case you are wondering, we never got the faucet we set out to buy and still have a leaky one.

The days that followed have been spent getting to know and loving on our timid little wall flower. Since she came in as a lost dog, the humane society could not tell us about her previous life, other than she came in with her brother who had been adopted just before she had. After being examined the vet informed us that she was once kenneled and chewed on the crate causing her to have traces of silver in her teeth. She has small patches of fur missing on her ears and nose from flies. We can only assume that she was probably left outside in a kennel in her previous life. On our own we found out that she was afraid of hats, loud noises, and quick movements. All of these discoveries had me up in arms. I was so worried that we made a mistake. I constantly called my sister, Natalie, the dog expert, the humane society, petsmart, our vet, anyone I could think of for advice. Again, I will try to make this brief. In the short amount of time we have had her, she has come to trust us and us her. With what we like to call hat therapy, she is no longer afraid of hats.

She is also becoming less and less leery of strangers and no longer reacts to people jogging when we take her on walks. Watching our bashful shelter dog blossom into a confident, happy family pet has been a pleasure to witness. She really is the perfect addition to our family and we often wonder where she's been our whole life.