My little pittie fell into my life when I was least expecting her. My husband and I have a 6 1/2 year old pit mix that we love to death, and have wanted a friend for her for years. Due to various issues, we never did manage to get a friend for her in Michigan, where we're from. We moved to Virginia chasing a job(which didn't work out, whole other crazy story), and adopted a cattle dog mix named Astra. We changed her name to Chloe, and discovered she didn't fit our needs as a family, and we didn't fit hers either. She is most comfortable as an only dog, and being around Cooper was more than she was comfortable with. There were fights, and unhappy crated dogs that had to stay separated. Chloe is headed back to her original foster this weekend, so she can find a home she is happy and unstressed in. This is best for her and for us, even though its been a hard decision. This blog isn't about her.
Its about Ciara, a year old brindle pittie who belonged to one of my co-workers. Said co-worker had to move out of her apartment and into her boyfriend's house, and he wouldn't let her keep her dogs. She texted me at 10:30 one night, while I was sitting in a move theatre with my husband waiting for The Avengers Age of Ultron to start. I read the text, something about covering her shift tomorrow so that she could take her dog to the shelter and surrender her. My heart dropped. These dogs had been staying in a kennel at work quite a bit, because her boyfriend wouldn't allow them into his house. So this year old rambunctious, excited teenage pitbull was now headed for another kennel in a shelter. She already had so much pent up energy, if any potential adopter tried to take her out for a visit, she would overwhelm them immediately. Without even consulting with my husband, I offered to take Nala in. She said no, she had signed a contract stating she had to return the dog to the shelter if she couldn't keep her. I said ok, and tried to put it out of my mind and enjoy the movie. The next day, my coworker texted again and said the shelter would be ok with someone else taking the dog. I told my husband, and we were driving over to get the pittie within the hour. I told my husband we were only fostering her until she found a permanent home. I'm not sure I believed myself, and I'm almost positive he didn't believe me at all!
This poor little pittie walked downstairs with her and got handed over to us with no toys, no food to switch her over to what we feed, and no information. It took a couple weeks to even get her records, and she never did tell us what food she was originally on. We took a gamble, and started her on Orijen Large Breed Puppy, hoping it wouldn't cause an upset tummy. She was incredibly nervous at first, but so excited to be living on a farm with tons of space to run. Within the first couple weeks of living with her, we were letting her off leash on the farm with no worries. She wants to please, and loves running back to us every time we call her name. We changed her name to Ciara, and switched her from kibble to raw food to help combat her allergies. She started out as a foster, and became a permanent family member. My husband and I work different hours, with his schedule being a regular 8-4, and mine a bit more non conventional, mostly afternoon/evenings with an occasional 7-5 and morning shift thrown in. As it stands, I spend most of my mornings by myself, and Ciara planted herself firmly by my side.
We go everywhere together, and she has become an incredible sidekick in busy cities. I take her to coffee shops, restaurants and stores. She runs all my errands with me, and hangs out at work with me as well. She's an incredible adventurer, and I didn't realize how much I needed her until she arrived in my life. Dogs fill holes in our hearts we didn't know we had!
