On August 20, 2013 Shiner became a part of my family. My lab, Janet, and I were watching tv when I noticed she seemed to be hearing something outside and thought I heard something as well. I searched around the house a couple times but didn’t hear or see anything so I went back inside. An hour later Janet was still perking up her ears and seemed to be very anxious. I took her outside and gave her the “find it” command. A few minutes later she began pawing at the side of our duplex. I dug out a bit under the wall and found the saddest, most gorgeous set of puppy eyes staring back at me. Several hot dogs later I coaxed the puppy out from under the house.

She was in rough shape. She inherited a genetic skin mite from her mother called Demodex. This required daily skin medicine which she hated. The vet estimated that she was around 7-8wks old, just old enough to start eating solid food. She was terrified of everyone and everything. Over the past year she has developed into such a little fireball with a huge personality. Her youthful energy has done wonders for Janet and me. Often Shiner will get excited and tear around the duplex, running circles around the coffee table. Then she will settle down and quietly snuggle with us on the couch. I’ve had rescue and poorly behaved dogs before but never have I seen such a transformation as I have witnessed with Shiner. I’ve struggled a lot over the past year with some difficult situations and the joy I see in Shiner has simply been infectious. It’s so hard to be depressed or anxious when she comes running up, splays out across your chest and stomach and starts licking you all over your face. She acts as our resident guard dog (the 80lb lab is just friends with everyone). The cat both hates and loves her, every night they roughhouse before finally settling down to bed. I’m so grateful that she became a part of our little family. In honor of her “gotcha day” I thought I would share some photos of her journey thus far. Enjoy. And if you are looking for a pet, don’t forget to check the shelter. You may just hit the jackpot 🙂