We Spontaneously Adopted a Dog...

I just wanted to go look at the dogs... but then we fell in love.

It has been officially 1 week since Tatum's Gotcha Day. And I am surprised at how great it's been! Rescuing a dog is no small feat. You never truly know what you're going to get until you've introduced it to your home. Tatum definitely has his challenges, but overall he is surprisingly well-behaved (for the most part) and super loving. He is a 1-year-old German Shepherd/Australian Shepherd mix, though he looks more German than Australian. He keeps us on our toes and will definitely be a fun addition to the household as we train him to be a therapy dog!

Outfit pics with the best boy

So, how did we end up with a dog all of a sudden?

This is something that Wesley and I had discussed on a very surface-level basis. I had been asking about getting a dog since I moved in with Wesley, but with the house renovations and concept of eventually renting our house, it just didn't really make sense. On occasion, I'd casually suggest rescuing a dog, but no further discussions would arise. We have finally finished up the majority of the house renovations in the main house (we also have an ADU that needs to be fully redone), and I saw that the local rescue shelter was waiving adoption fees for some of the animals. I asked Wesley if we could just go look at the dogs over the weekend since the shelter's website isn't always updated. He begrudgingly agreed... Wesley loves animals, so he was trying to avoid going to the shelter since he would definitely want to adopt all of the dogs.

We drove down to Haven Humane, and they were filled to the brim with dogs, hence the adoption fees being waived. We decided to each take pictures of our favorite dogs and compare our options. With nearly 60 dogs at the shelter, I think I took pictures of about 10 dogs -- Tatum was actually the first one I took pictures of! Wesley took a picture of about half of the dogs (not surprising). We both initially liked a dog that was an Alaskan Husky mix, but after having 1:1 time with him in the playroom, we were not feeling it. He bit and scratched us and smashed Wesley's sunglasses into the concrete floor. Another dog we looked at was a Siberian Huskey who was super calm in the kennel, but we were forewarned that she was returned to Haven Humane after biting a child... plus she was on Trazodone to help with her kennel anxiety. We were feeling pretty discouraged at this point but still had 2 other favorites to look at. We stopped at Tatum's kennel and noticed his sweet temperament, gentle eyes, and floppy ears. While chaos broke out among the other dogs, Tatum was the only one not barking. We brought him to the playroom and almost instantaneously fell in love with him.

Meeting Tatum for the first time @ Haven Humane

He was the perfect dog for us! But it was such a big decision to make since we were not prepared to adopt a dog that day -- no supplies or anything. We drove home, sat on the couch, and talked through the pros and cons of getting a dog. Of course, the pros outweighed the cons, and the cons had easy solutions. Our main concern was regarding what to do with him when we took our trips back to North Carolina, but we talked about all the possible options we have in our area. No less than an hour later we were in the car driving back to the shelter to pick up Tatum! After we finished the paperwork, we headed to Petco to get the necessities and got him settled in his new home. He loves his new, spacious yard and his squeaky toys!

Tatum enjoying his new backyard

Our goal now is to train him. I want him to eventually become a therapy dog so that I can bring him to school to support my students during speech therapy sessions. He's already learned sit and down, and we're working on shake and come. He still has a long way to go before he's therapy ready, so stay tuned for training updates!