When we bought our house a year ago one of the criteria on our wish list was a fenced yard. Yes, privacy was an element to that requirement but having a fenced yard meant rescuing a dog was in our future. The home my girlfriend and I had rented prior to owning did not have a fenced yard. We made a promise while living there that we would not bring home a dog, no matter how tempted we were. We kept to that promise for a little over a year when we begin house hunting and eventually settled into our tiny bungalow. Almost a year of landscaping and house projects flew by when we came to the conclusion that rescuing a dog was our next step to complete our home.

The process of rescuing an animal can test your patience and feel like a full time job at times. Rescues get flooded with applicants and with limited resources they cannot get back to everyone regarding a particular animal. Since we were particularly looking for a dog under 6 months old our application pool was populated with other qualified applicants. After 2 months of looking and wondering when our time would come my girlfriend came across a Facebook post from a local rescue, Higher Ground Animal Sanctuary, announcing four mystery breed puppies that were up for adoption. These pups were from a litter of 7 and their mom was a medium built white dog. There was no information on the dad and we could only speculate these pups were lab/ heeler mixes with some more mystery breeds mixed in. By the time we had agreed to put in an application that post had generated 98 shares, 227 likes and 44 comments. Our chances looked slim.

A few weeks passed by and to our surprise we got a call from Cheri who delivered the exciting news that we had been selected as an adopter of one of those sweet pups. The 3 days before we were able to meet the puppies passed slowly but allowed ample time to stock up on all the accessories and toys needed to keep our new addition happy and entertained once she was at home with us.

The day finally came to go to Jody, the fosters house and meet the little ones. All 4 puppies emerged from the house and came barreling down the stairs eager to meet the new people. As we watched them play we learned that 2 of the puppies had already been picked by other adopters. We had our pick between the remaining two females, Tess and Fern. Tess was the littlest one but it was obvious she was leading the pack. She was playing fiercely with her brother and sisters, running and chasing them every which way. When I got her attention and picked her up she immediately started giving kisses. She was the one.

That day she came home with us. She met her bunny brother and had many visitors who were eager to meet her and play. She was shy and nervous at first but quickly came out of her shell. We changed her name to Luna and now 2 months later she is gearing up for her first of many camping trip. She loves walks, playing fetch, making new friends and snuggling mom and dad. Her happy personality is infectious and she is not shy about asking for attention. She is extremely smart and continues to impress with her daily obedience training. Adopting Luna is one of the best decisions I ever made.

A huge thank you to Cheri with Higher Ground Animal Sanctuary and Jody, the amazing foster mom who took care of Luna and her siblings. To volunteer, donate, foster or adopt from Higher Ground please visit www.HigherGroundAnimalSanctuary.org

Submitted by Christopher A.

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