Suzy's Forever Home Story

Today I have a very serious and special story to share. I am going to talk about how I came to be here in my forever home. I wasn't so lucky like Rebel to have almost always had Mommy in my life...

I was an abused dog and was found by the shelter on the side of the road with my 7 puppies when I was about 2 years old. When I was found I only weighed about 25 pounds which isn't very much for a husky let alone a husky with that many puppies to feed. The shelter took me in and nursed me back to health as I was very sick. They also helped get my puppies healthy and all their shots and such. My puppies all were placed into forever homes and from what I have heard they all are very happy. The shelter fixed me so that I couldn't make more puppies and continued to nurse me back to health. They listed me in the paper trying to find me a forever home too. I was adopted and returned 2 times before Mommy and Daddy adopted me. You see I am quite the escape artist and that posed a problem for some of the other people who tried to give me forever homes. Daddy had seen me in the paper each of the 2 other times but had been too late in telling Mommy about me and I was gone when they called. When he saw me in the paper the third time he called right away and wanted to see me right away!

Mommy and Daddy said that when they met me for the first time they knew that I had been very badly abused so they both got down on the floor in the vets office to meet me. I walked in and went straight up to Mommy and let her pet me. The vet staff was just shocked as I had never done that with any potential parents before. Then after Daddy kept talking to me I shyly went over and met him too. I was shocked that he seemed so nice! I had been abused by a man and this man didn't seem mean or ugly acting at all. The vet staff talked to the people that ran the shelter and they decided that Mommy and Daddy could take me home that very day! I heard them say that they had another husky at home and as long as we got along OK then I would have a forever home.

On the long ride to their house at first Mommy rode in the back seat with me and then halfway they switched and Daddy rode with me back there too. When we pulled up to the house I saw a big back yard with a fence. We all got out and Daddy gave Mommy the leash to hold and he went into the house and got a leash for Rebel then got him off of his chain. Then Mommy brought me into the back yard too and let the two of us get close enough to sniff each other. Mommy and Daddy both kept telling Rebel and me that we needed to be nice and told us that we needed to love each other. After a little while they let the leashes go and we checked each other out a little more and started running around and playing. I think that for Rebel and I both it was love at first site. Then Grandma and Grandpa came over to meet me too. Right away I loved Grandma but I wasn't so sure about Grandpa. He had a hat on and the bad man that abused me used to wear hats, so I growled at him a lot. Mommy and Daddy put Rebel back on his chain and made an area for me to be chained up too where we wouldn't get tangled. We had to be on chains back then because there were a few areas of the fence that needed to be made higher so that we couldn't escape! I can jump very high and Mommy and Daddy didn't want me to run away. Oh man I was so unhappy when they left me chained up back there with my little house, food and water. I started howling and carrying on! I made such a racket that they had to come get me and let me in the house with them. You see I was house trained when I lived at the shelter and when I first came to live here Rebel was not house trained so they didn't want to play favorites with the two of us. Mommy and Daddy had tried and tried but Rebel just didn't want any part of potty training because he loved being outside so much crazy dog that he is.

Mommy let me get up in bed with her and everything that first night and that is how it has been ever since with me in bed with them! Mommy and Daddy felt bad for Rebel being outside while I was inside so they got him too and Daddy made a bed up for Rebel slept on the floor in his sleeping bag with him that first night. Mommy and Daddy say that I potty trained Rebel, and I think that they are right!! Well that or Rebel didn't want me to get to do things he didn't get to so he went along with things. We got to come inside every night then and when Mommy or Daddy were home during the day but still had to go outside during the day though while Mommy and Daddy were at work and boy did I hate that at first because of the chain. The first chance Mommy got she worked on adapting the fences to make them higher where she needed to so that I couldn't escape. She built a new fence in one part of the yard using Rebel's old kennel panels and she added this other stuff to the top of other areas of the fence and she put all this rope up over the top of the long gate. It sure does look funny but I can't get out so I guess it serves the purpose! Now we go outside in the back yard without any chains. We still aren't allowed in the house without supervision but with Mommy being here all the time pretty much now it sure is nice!

Anyhow, that is my story of how I came to live here with Mommy, Daddy, and Rebel in my forever home. It hasn't always been easy but Mommy and Daddy say that I am a different dog than the one they brought home that first day. I let them touch my feet more now and I don't cower around nice men. I don't even mind if nice men were hats.