How we went from one to five…
In 2009, we started to think about all of the dogs with no
families of their own and realized that we had the resources to give a dog a
great home. I started looking at the
available dogs on the DRNA website, and came across a 14 year old black-and-tan
miniature Dachshund who was completely deaf and about 90% blind. I figured that this dog, Molly, had little
chance of being adopted, given her age and health issues. I decided to fill out the application even
though we do not have a fenced in yard, which is typically a requirement. I thought they may overlook it because of
Molly’s age and conditions – we wouldn’t be letting her roam around outside
unsupervised anyway!
We received an email the next day and was told that Molly
was part of a bonded pair that DRNA was not willing to separate…she had a
daughter, Gunni, who was 12 and a red (brown fur) miniature Dachshund. They had been together their whole lives and had
only ever lived with one lady who unfortunately was placed in an assisted
living facility. The lady’s family did
not want Molly and Gunni, so they surrendered them to a shelter. Because of their age, they were scheduled for
euthanasia because the shelter did not believe they would ever be adopted, but
thankfully, DRNA was made aware of them and rescued them from the shelter. This is why we think of Gunni as our “bonus”
dog – we planned on one, but got two – and what an unexpected gift she has been. So gentle and kind, and by far the best
behaved of our herd.
We were asked if we would consider adopting both of them,
and we only had to think about it for three seconds before we knew we would
take both of them if we were approved.
Chelsea was almost 10 and had technically been an only dog for her
entire life – although the “family” dogs were like her sisters and they had
each lived with us for short periods of time as my mom moved from Pennsylvania
to Virginia. Still, we figured she would
enjoy having two little old ladies to keep her company during the day.
We had a representative from DRNA come and interview us and
do a home inspection, and we were nervous because of the lack of fence. However, we think she was sold within the
first few minutes because our kitchen is filled with Dachshund things and it
does not take a trained professional to quickly determine that Chelsea lives
like a princess. We have about two acres
of property, much of it wooded, and we live up on a hill with only four other
houses, so there is very little traffic – a definite plus. She also saw my personalized license plate,
which is Dachshund-related, and that possibly put us over the top. J
So we were approved and told that our timing was perfect
because there would be a meet-and-greet at a nearby elementary school where
DRNA brings the available dogs and the approved adoptive families to meet one
another in just a few days. We were very
excited about meeting Molly and Gunni and asked my mom to come to the event
with us, since she would be watching them for us whenever we traveled. We had no idea how it worked, so when we
arrived, we were quite surprised to see many dogs – I would estimate between 30
and 40 – all with their foster families, and about 30 adoptive families. Most families did not know which dog they
would be adopting, because DRNA wants to be sure that the family and the dog
are a good fit, once they’ve met each other.
We were in a different position, because we were adopting a senior pair
with special needs, so we knew we were there to meet Molly and Gunni and that
no other family was “in the running” to adopt them.
When we met Molly and Gunni, we immediately fell in love
with them. We also enjoyed observing the
other families meeting dogs, taking them for short walks, introducing them to
the dogs they already had, and clearly favoring the one they wanted to
adopt. We kept seeing this one
particular black-and-tan piebald (black and white and spotted – kind of like a
cow pattern) miniature Dachshund who wagged her tail the entire time and went
happily with any family who approached her for a walk or a belly rub or a hug,
including us. It was absolutely love at
first sight and we actually began feeling territorial and annoyed watching
other families interact with her for the remainder of the event! We could not take our eyes off this dog! It was so obvious that Molly and Gunni’s
foster mom said to us that she couldn’t help noticing how enamored we were with
this other dog and that she would completely understand if we didn’t want to take
Molly and Gunni. We told her
emphatically that we would take Molly and Gunni, but the other dog was making
us consider adopting three dogs instead of two!
In the meantime, my mom had found herself a little friend
who sat in her arms with such a look of contentment on her face – like she had
found her place in the world. She was a
red brindle (striped) miniature Dachshund.
My mom was already approved to adopt, as she had adopted both Murphy and
Carmen, both of whom had special needs and the folks at DRNA knew what an
amazing dog owner she is.
We were the last people to leave, and the foster families
were gathering up the dogs to go home with them (no one gets their dog that
day). DRNA reviews which family wants
which dog and makes a decision, after which time they arrange for the adoptive
family to pick up their dog on another day when the dogs have not been
subjected to so much activity and excitement.
Before leaving, the adoptive families were required to write their top
three dog choices beside their printed name on a DRNA form. Because we had just been approved two days
beforehand, our names were not printed on the form and we had to add them at
the bottom of the page. My mom wrote
that she was interested in adopting “Summer” and then it was our turn. I was super nosy and scanned everyone’s choices
and saw “Madison” listed as the first choice of many families. Many, many families. Enough that it caused an elevated heart rate
while the possibility that we would not get her terrified us. We wrote our names, listed Molly, Gunni, and
Madison, and added a note that we wanted not one of these dogs, but all
three. We said goodbye to Molly and
Gunni and told them we would see them soon – they were so calm and sweet and we
couldn’t wait for them to be ours.
Madison was in her crate, ready to leave, and we went over to give her a
kiss, hoping this would not be the last time we saw her.
On our way home, we talked about how great Madison was and
how much we wanted her. We knew the
chances were slim – we had already committed to adopting two dogs and so many
other families wanted Madison, too. I
wrote the most shameless email of my life to Madison’s foster mom within 10
minutes of arriving home. Essentially I
begged for her to select us. I listed
every positive thing I could think of that might convince her we were the right
family for Madison. I rambled on about
what a great life Madison would have with us and about how much we would love
her and how our family would be incomplete without her. I am normally a very reserved person, but
there was no holding back in this email.
We wanted her so badly. I hit the
send button and spent the next few hours thinking of more things I could have
written and really did consider crafting a second email. When I went back to the computer, though, a
reply was waiting for us. Feeling
excited and terrified, I opened it and found a lovely response about how my
email really touched her and that she knew we would be perfect for Madison and
that she had selected us to adopt her.
To say I freaked out is an understatement. I went racing up the stairs, yelling to C,
“We got her! We got her!” in possibly the loudest voice I have ever used.
Fast forward two weeks, since we had been out of town for a
few days and the school year was starting, and it was finally time to get
them. On a Friday night, we drove about
45 minutes to get Madison from her foster home – and in a beautiful coincidence,
this same lady was also fostering the dog my mom was adopting, so my mom was
picking her up at the same time. We
signed the paperwork and got our two little dogs and we could not have been
more thrilled. Madison was 4 and
“Summer” – renamed on the spot as Ginny – was 1; we brought Madison – now
called Maddy” – home to meet Chelsea and my mom took Ginny home to meet Carmen.
The next morning, we met the other foster mom to get Molly
and Gunni, and suddenly we had four dogs in our house! Things generally went well, although Chelsea
seemed highly insulted by these strangers in her house. It took her a while to warm up to them; she
simply ignored them for the first week or so.
At my mom’s house, it was a different story. Carmen was none too impressed with having a
new dog in her house and made it pretty well known that she was not happy. She knew Muggsi had been the alpha dog, but
now that Muggsi was gone, she had moved up in the ranks and was not ready to
share my mom’s attention or affection with another dog. A second issue was that Ginny is a barker,
and my mom lives in a condo. Ginny barks
at anything and everything! She really
had us fooled at the meet-and-greet because she didn’t make a peep the entire
time my mom was holding her! So between
Carmen’s incessant growling and Ginny’s incessant barking, we knew something
had to give. And this is how Ginny came
to be our fifth dog. It worked out
rather well, because we think Maddy was a little bored living with three older
ladies who preferred sleep to all other activities, and having a loud, lively
puppy in the house seemed to make Maddy extremely happy. Unfortunately, Maddy had been used as a
breeder dog at a puppy mill before she was rescued by DRNA, but the one good
thing to result from that is her very maternal nature. Having Ginny to look after was perfect for
her, and she has taken to caring for Gunni as Gunni has grown older and more
feeble.
So that is the story of how we came to have five dogs. The next installment will include the story
of Molly. Until then…
Happy Tails to you!
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