We Got A Dog

Hey Babes! 

I’ve got some exciting news to share... my family adopted a puppy! 

When Bailey passed away my heart was shattered. It’s been about two months since we said goodbye to her and the wound still feels fresh. Since her passing, my parents have heard Bailey sighing and the clack of her nails on the floor. I’ve had dreams about her. I even brace for impact when I walk in the hallway at night still afraid that I’ll trip over her on my way to the bathroom and I look downstairs to see if she’s sleeping on her ottoman. But the most depressing part is coming home to an empty house. 

We’ve been looking into adoption since April and the journey has not been easy. We’ve gotten attached to a dog to only have the rescue tell us that they were being adopted, and we’ve had dogs that we were approved for, fall through. It kind of felt like Bailey was for lack of a better phrase, cock blocking us from Doggy Heaven. Then, one day when I was on Facebook, I saw a post from a rescue group about black lab mixed puppies that would soon be available for adoption, so we applied. 

We heard back quickly and submitted references and photos of our house and yard. Then we had our interview and virtual home visit, but we were determined to not get our hopes up again. A couple of days later we received an email that we were approved for the boy dog in the litter. (See, Bailey really was sending some juju our way! She said, there is no way in hell you’re getting another girl dog! I am the QUEEN) 

A day before we were supposed to meet and take home our baby, we got a phone call that the dogs wouldn’t be coming up to Pennsylvania. One of the puppies got sick with Pravo and the siblings that were being fostered with her had to be quarantined to ensure that they wouldn’t get sick. Our puppy along with one other had to be quarantined, so we had to wait two weeks until we could meet him provided that everything went well. 

All three of us were crushed. We had his crate set up, bought him chew toys and got his food and water bowl ready. But, we waited and checked in regularly and thankfully, all three puppies were given a clean bill of health and they made their way to Pennsylvania from Mississippi on May 14th. We finally rescued our handsome baby boy and took him home with us. Before we left to go get him, I started to cry because I felt so guilty about bringing another dog into our home, Bailey’s home. That feeling dissipated, but I still miss her dearly. 

Choosing a name for our newest addition was incredibly difficult. Our two previous dogs both had names that began with a B, so we looked for B names but we didn’t like any. We played around with names from Harry Potter and we couldn’t agree. I made a Power Point slideshow with pictures of him and the names on our list to get a feel of what he looked like. We discussed the names... Rizzo, Cooper, Leo, Levi, Iggy, Maverick, Remus, Sirius, Albus, Brody and we even toyed with the idea of keeping his given name which was Vincent. 

Much to my mom’s dismay, we named him Mushu and I think it fits his personality perfectly! He’s smart, mischievous, playful, motivated by food and very cuddly. While we’ve only had Mushu for a small period of time, I already love him. 

xoxo, 

Kelly