Happy Adoption Day, Dear Smitty

Happy Adoption Day to you! Here's Sunshine giving Smitty his present tonight.

One year ago I went to Michaels to buy ribbon for Sunshine's hair as it had finally grown out enough from the Horrible Haircut of '09 to pull back into a small pony with some ribbon. Since it was a Sunday, I wandered over to PetSmart as it's their adoption day.

There were so many cute little dogs---despite having a decent size fenced-in yard, we're still small dog people. Love my brothers' labs (one brother has a chocolate, the other has a black as well as a yellow lab), but 85 lbs of dog sharing my bed vs. 15 lbs of dog? I choose 15!

So, tons of sweet little doggies---so many ear scratches, coos of "what a good girl/boy" & general "ooooh I so want to bring you home!" followed. I found myself in the back of the store when a shelter was unloading their dogs. That's when I saw Smitty. He was scruffy & immediately marked his little crate when they took him out of their crate. He had big brown eyes & when I saw his little Schnauzer face I was in love. I started texting Hunter who told me to "just say no" and to walk away.

But, I didn't. I was walking Smitty in the store & to my amazement he walked nicely on the leash. He listened to commands. The story from the shelter was sketchy. I was told he was surrendered by a family whose little girl was abusive to him. I was also told he was surrendered due to financial issues. For whatever reason, someone gave him up & I was going to bring him home with me.

Persistence paid off & next thing I knew Hunter was bringing Sunshine down to the store so they could see him. The shelter said his name was Smut. Seriously. Who in their right mind names a dog "Smut"??? The name had to go, but I wanted a name that was close so he wouldn't be too terribly confused, thus Smitty was born.

I'll admit, buyers remorse kicked in pretty quickly when I realized that Libby wasn't impressed with our new family member. At all. There would be moments when she'd let him get close to her & they'd snuggle together, but they were few and far between. I felt guilty that she wasn't happy w/ her new buddy.

After we lost her in July, I found myself wishing it had been him who had gotten sick. Before you think I'm a horrible person who had no right to adopt him, bear with me. I'd had Libby for 7 1/2 years & since she was 8 weeks old. She was truly my baby. Smitty was a sweet boy I'd adopted on a whim, who was never accepted by my sweet girl & a dog I'd had for 4 months.

Roughly a month after she was gone, I found myself with 25 lbs of Schnauzer mix on my lap one afternoon when it hit me---I love this dog. I didn't rescue him----HE rescued ME. Friends commented on the timing of his adoption. Whatever your belief system is, fate had intervened on that day. He came into our lives for a reason & I am eternally grateful to God, the fates, the universe, who/whatever. He's my sweet handsome boy. He's a smart dog & it soon became clear that whoever owned him had given him some sort of training. It's said that shelter/rescue adoptions usually take around 6 months to settle into their new homes. Smitty wasn't any different. By fall we noticed he was responding to our voice commands/hand signals. Even in a group of dogs that are misbehaving, he will listen & follow our commands.

He's a very affectionate dog & loves everyone he meets. His little tail will start wagging & won't stop. He gets on Sunshine's bed when we're reading stories at night & will stay with her (oh, how those two love one another!!) until we go to bed & call him into our room. He's a bed hog. He snores & he does this cute thing where he will roll onto his back, roll around & make growly noises as he stretches. He's definitely a "talker" & loves watching the Patriots play football. Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis is his favorite. He's also been compared to Don Draper as he's such a handsome boy!

Happy Adoption Day, Smitty. We'd be so lost without you!