I mentioned in a previous post that we added another girl to our family several months ago…a dog!
Since being married, Cesar and I have wanted a dog but have lived in two different rentals and neither of them allowed dogs. We decided we would get one when we moved to our own house, so we started looking in early December when our closing date was getting close (or so we thought). Our plan was to adopt a puppy, preferably one that was only a couple months old.
We scoured Craigslist and local animal shelters’ websites every evening in search of the perfect puppy, but were having trouble finding one online. One afternoon, Cesar and I ventured into a shelter just to look around because we hadn’t closed on our house yet and our landlord still didn’t permit dogs.
When we walked in, there were a few puppies around 6 months old that looked exactly like what we were looking for…until we got them out. Yikes! Talk about wild. With two energetic little girls at home, a puppy with just as much or more energy might be a little much too handle, we realized.
We wandered to one dog that was very calm and just minding her own business. She laid in her cage and quietly watched as everyone walked by her cage and straight toward the adorable little puppies on either side of her. For some reason, Cesar and I both decided to get her out and take her for a walk outside. We quickly found out that she was a favorite of the shelter’s staff.
We learned that her name Sofia and she had just turned two years old. She was surrendered by her previous owner who could no longer take care of her, and she had just been fixed after delivering a litter of puppies. Cesar and I walked around with her and played with her for a while then decided to go, because again, we couldn’t keep her at our townhouse.
Later that night, Cesar and I were talking about how much we both liked that dog. At that point in time, we thought we were a week or two away from closing on our house and 3-4 weeks from living there, so we came up with an idea. Since Cesar’s parents have a fenced-in backyard and no pets, we asked them if they would consider keeping a dog there for a few weeks until we could take her. They agreed. We talked and talked and talked about it until there was nothing left to talk about, and we decided to go for it.
The next day, we went back to find out how to proceed with the adoption. Sofia had several people interested in her, but we were the first ones to actually start the adoption process, so we were first in line to adopt her. We did all the paperwork, paid the fees while they got her ready to go, and we were on our way with our new furry friend. It happened that quick. There were several tears shed by the employees at the shelter because their favorite girl was leaving them, but we assured them that she was going to a good home.
Our girls loved Sofia the first time they met her, but we had to change her name…fast! There’s only enough room for one Sophia in our house! Sophia came up with the name Mia, and the dog started responding almost immediately. So that was her new name. We walked her around and got her used to her new temporary home, then we went home. We came back every day to feed her, walk her, and play with her.
When we a had a few hiccups with the house, Mia stayed at my in-laws’ for a little longer than expected, but they were very understanding. A couple months later, we finally moved to our new house and Sophia especially was excited to finally get to live with Mia. She loves playing with her and running around with her in our own yard.
Mia has been wonderful with our kids. She listens so well and is very calm. Emma can be a little rough with her sometimes (Emma’s a little rough with everyone and everything), but Mia just licks back. She is a terrible fetcher, but we’re working on that. She doesn’t go through the door until she makes sure we are all already through. You can place a steak in front of her and she will not touch it until you tell her to “go eat”. She gets along with everybody and is perfect with other dogs on the street and at the dog park. We really could not ask for a better dog.
Are y’all ready to see a picture of our sweet four legged friend!?
I’m serious. That’s our girl.
She is a pitbull mixed with something else, possibly a lab, but she looks like a full blown pitbull. And she looks mean. She is proof, though, that looks can be deceiving. She is the sweetest, most gentle dog, especially with Sophia and Emma.
I’ve never been one to be afraid of any specific type of dog. I grew up with the nicest, goofiest dog I’d ever met, and she was a German Shepard/coyote mix. I just never considered myself a pitbull person. I am not scared of pitbulls myself, but I do know that there is a certain stigma attached to them (which I believe stems from the way certain ones are raised). That’s always made me a little weary of owning one. I don’t want people to come to my house and be afraid of my dog because of the way she looks.
Surprisingly, no one that has met her has been afraid of her, despite how…uhh, scary…she looks. Even going for walks at the park, people will stop us and ask us to pet her, and that is not normally something people do with “bully breeds”. She is so friendly toward people, they just can’t help it though. People comment to us how well behaved Mia is.
It’s funny. I never, ever thought I would own a pitbull. Mia is the opposite of what we thought we were looking for in a dog, but oddly enough, she fits perfectly in our family. So I guess she is exactly what we were looking for.