We said, “No more dogs.” My husband and I had said it countless times, every time it would come up in conversations about pets or a family member would comment how much the kids would love a dog. We had been dog mom and dad before. My husband and I had that experience together years ago and decided that was enough to fulfill our desire for a furry family member.
We got our first dog when he was a puppy and even though we loved him, he came with many issues; so many issues in fact, I don’t have time to get into all of them in this post. So, after the experience with our first dog, weighing the good and the bad, we decided we were done with dogs as pets.
Rainy days became easier, no anxious dog in the thunder and no muddy paw prints on the floor.
The house was a bit cleaner, no dribbles from the water bowl on the floor, no dog hair gathering in the corners. There was extra closet space where the food, treats and toys were once kept. We could leave the house for an extended period of time and not have to worry about letting the dog out. We enjoyed all of these perks to the fullest for a few years.
Meanwhile, as we were taking advantage of living a furry friend free life, my sister had been working at Cincinnati Animal Care, and heavily advocating for their animals to anyone who would listen. We would tell her the same thing we had been saying, “No more dogs.” And we kept telling her and telling her. However, over time, as I followed the shelter on social media and would see post after post of stray and lost dogs, I would be lying if I said it didn’t pull at my heart strings.
I started to think about the ways we could help like donating, fostering and sharing posts. Eventually, I convinced myself (and my husband) that if the right fit came along, we could try fostering. Not too long after that, we got a call from my sister about a very timid dog that might be a good fit. He was too afraid to even stay at the shelter, his hair was extremely matted, and he smelled terrible.
But when we went to meet him, we connected with him, smelly, tangled hair and all.
Even my son, who was afraid of dogs at the time, liked him. So, we took this rescue home for what we said would be a few days to foster or until he found his fur-ever home as they like to say.
It turns out, we were his fur-ever home. We decided even though we said no more dogs, we couldn’t say goodbye to Charlie. He was so sweet and had worked his way into our hearts in just a few days. We weren’t looking for him, but we needed him to complete our family. He is the rescue we never knew we needed. We rescued him from the shelter, but he rescued us from a dog-free life in the best way!
If you would like to help a dog like Charlie, check out Cincinnati Animal Care. They will match you with a dog that they think will be a good fit for your family either with fostering, adoption or even just taking a dog on a day trip for a few hours. And maybe you, too, will find a rescue that you didn’t know you needed!
