Serialnerd of Fun: Leroy, the Puppy Boy.

Leroy, my friend, Happy Woofday!

Rescuing a buddy from a shelter usually doesn't afford you the opportunity to know when that friend was born. True goes for Leroy. We adopted him July 4, 2013 when he was about 3 months old, so Travis and I designated April 4, 2013 his birthday.

I'll admit how strange it is, being so excited to tell everyone he's one (or 7 depending.) I guess I can margianlly see how new parents feel. Telling anyone who'll listen about how awesome he is, how well behaved and happy he is and how much we love him. How proud of him we are. It does not in any way change my mind about really not wanting kids, but I get it. I've taken to twitter and facebook today, sharing only pictures and gushy junk of him.

I don't know where all the excitement for this little guys day of birth is coming from, because I don't get this way for any other human, so why pups? I don't spend weeks and days planning what we should do. I don't get more and more happy the closer it comes. I won't do it for anyone else but him. Granted, his special day has been filled with parks and playing and treats. Not too much, of course, but some cheese, blueberries and a couple air fries. Come to think of it, that's pretty much awesome for anyone - human or pup!

Here's the story of how we met Leroy, our puppy boy.

Travis and I had spoken for years about wanting a dog, but we were in a too new relationship in our first apartment and the second didn't allow pets. Well, the lease did specify one fat orange cat was allowed but only for the lady couple that lived beneath us. But, after saving and scrimping, we were fortunate enough to afford our own house. Ruff ruff, dog city here we come! We have a yard, food and lots of love. That's all you need, right? But it wasn't that easy. Travis had never raised a dog so he knew he needed to be mentally prepared before taking on such a responsibility. Which I can TOTALLY appreciate now, but that's a separate story. I, on the other hand, had raised several dogs, including a few puppies, so I was just waiting for the green pup light! The time between taking ownership of the house and that light, was about a year. And one day, Travis declared, "I think it's time we find our friend!"

I was so stoked! We told the great news to a few close friends, our parents, etc. but not too many in case it didn't happen. Ack - just like a pregnancy! weird. I spent time looking online at local rescue organizations, shelters, and societies because we were going rescue 100% baby! We had an idea of what kind of dog we wanted, scruffy and on the smaller side, but not necessarily the breed. He just had to say, "Hey, I'm Leroy." Or she - we weren't ruling anyone out. The online search soon became each of us finding pups that spoke to us, but not the other. After a month of this, I was discouraged because I felt the puportunity slipping by. My fear was Trav would come home and say lets give it a break and start up a few months later, and when those few months would go by, we'd still be puppyless. But to my surprise, he suggested a Saturday in June, we check out some local shelters in person in case there were dogs not listed on their site.

We planned to visit three shelters that day:

The first was the closest and a place we'd both been before. They had some sweet dogs, but not Leroy. I mean of course we wish we could save them all, but hrmph.
The second was a much smaller operation and I liked their policy much better. They didn't allow people to walk through the kennels because it can make the dogs anxious, so they showed us a book we could flip through. In the smaller dog section again, no one said Hi, I'm Leroy. We were a little disappointed, sitting with the book in hand. We flipped through one more time, just in case... but nope. They did have a puppy in the office, Brownie, but at only a few months he had giant paws. Again, with a bigger yard we probably would have said yes, but it wasn't practical. We started chatting with the staff, telling them about us and the type of friend we were looking for. Retrospectively, I realized they had been screening us. After, I guess, we had more smiley faces than frowns, the director of the shelter informed us they had some terrier puppies that would be ready for adoption in a month... if we wanted to see them. We looked at each other with hopeful eyes and gave a big smile yes. And that was it.
Never hesitated to know we didn't need to visit them.

Here's some great information:
Where we adopted Leroy: Glendale Humane Society
Mary and Alex, who were the most wonderful people and puppy trainers (LOVE them): Tully's Training
The Wheatons are super rescue people, who started a great Tumblr: Rescue Pets Are Awesome

The evolution of Leroy:

These are the first photo sets we took of the puppies; they were all tentatively named designer brand names. According to shelter paperwork, we adotped "Armani"

This was the photo we used to introduce our new friend to the world.

"Dolce" is the blond

"Tiffany" is the only girl in the middle. "Lacoste" is the lighter grey to the left. "Armani" is at my feet.

Leroy was such a mess... we gave him his first bath at the shelter.

His first weekend with us and a bully stick. He looked like a schnauzer for the first 6 months.

He and I took our first solo car ride together. I took him to lunch at a local cafe. He wasn't quite sure yet...

Shortly after I took the black and white photo above, he gave his first Leroy smile. I cried, I was so happy. It made me feel that he felt safe with me.