National Puppy Day

When I worked at Hallmark (for seven long, fun, crazy years...) we had a rather long list of holidays. One for every day of the year. My last year there, it was my job to scour the Internet and find obscure holidays, that we may be able to sell a card for. Did you know that March 23rd is "National Near Miss Day" and "National Chip & Dip"? Yep.

It's also National Puppy Day. And unlike other silly "holidays", this is a day I can actually get behind. National Puppy Day serves a very real purpose:

"National Puppy Day is a special day, recognized on March 23rd annually, to celebrate the magic and unconditional love that puppies bring to our lives. But more importantly, it's a day to help save orphaned puppies across the globe and educate the public about the horrors of puppy mills, as well as further our mission for a nation of puppy-free pet stores." (source)

In January of last year, we adopted a cat from a local shelter, Buddy. And this cat is the light of our life. But we never wanted him to be an "only child". At this point in time, we don't plan on having human children, but we have a lot of love to give. We had talked about getting a puppy but the timing was never right. However, when we got back from our honeymoon, we finally started searching for a puppy. We had talked about getting a dog from a breeder, because we needed a young/small puppy, and we knew we wanted a lab. My anxiety and over-protectiveness towards Buddy insisted on that. I needed a dog that would start out around his size, so when the dog got bigger, Buddy wouldn't feel intimidated by him. But I just couldn't do it. I couldn't pay that much money for a dog, knowing how many were in shelters & in rescues.


(Source)


So, we find one on Petfinder that we thought would be a good fit... I mean, his name was Harry Pawter =) But when we went to see him, he was HUGE. But the rescue people told us that a friend of theirs had taken in a bunch of 9 week old puppies. So, we went to meet these people. And Graham was smitten the second we pulled into her drive way. The woman we spoke with comes out with a small, black puppy in her arms, and another one walking behind her. She tells us to follow her, and she'll show us the rest. So, we follow her into the garage, she sits down on the floor in front of a dog house and pulls out sleepy puppy after sleepy puppy. Twelve fat, adorable puppies total. The hard part was picking out which one we wanted =) Graham wanted one of the reddish-brown ones, and we wanted a girl, so we ended up with Hermione. When we brought her home with us, she was a 9 week old, whiny, chubby, adorable ball of fur. She's a lab/hound mix, and that first morning, you could definitely point out the hound in her. She whined & howled from about 4:00am until I left for work at about 8:45am. I have never been so happy to go to work in my life. But it got better.

Having a puppy is so different, and so much more work than a cat (especially since we chose not to crate train her), but she's also so much fun & has brought even more laughter into our household. We're both smitten with her, always entertained by her, and can't wait to watch her grow into a good, loyal dog (as long as she doesn't eat Buddy).

Her first night with us.

Buddy is her favorite pillow =)

 

The stuffed alligator is bigger than she is.

She's not happy unless she's pretty much in our lap. Or on Buddy.

bff's =)

Every animal, in every shelter across the United States, needs a home. Some of these animals have special needs, and need special care, but for the most part, they are just regular animals who need love. And they give SO much love in return. If you need reasons why you should adopt instead of shop, check out the Humane Society, the ASPCA, or your local animal shelter.