I don’t commit easily. It took me 7 months to choose a couch. It’s has nothing to do with any type of laziness, I relentlessly pursue (read stalk) the item/service/thought until I’m 100% certain it’s right. I think this process is one key reason I’m a happy person; being sure leaves little room for regret. This ‘quirk’ played a huge role in my decision to get a 2nd dog. Three years ago, as my sweet (now angel) dog Max was enjoying his golden years (as much as he could with severe arthritis) I began the painful thought process of what life would be like after Max. Most days it was both impossible to bear and impossible to ignore. I’d heard so many stories of people who lost their dogs and were unable to get a dog for several years. Although I fully understood how grief and guilt of moving on could build high walls, I did not want that for myself. I had long ago vowed that I would always have a dog in the home and it became increasingly apparent that something needed to happen to ensure that commitment.

I decided on a puppy. We’d gotten Max as a puppy and he’d turned out to be the best animal I’d ever had the pleasure to love. Yet with each breeder I looked into, something felt wrong. There was such a fierce competition for puppies and each came with such high price tags. I started thinking about Max. Although we got him as a puppy, his cost was $300. He was not our first choice, in fact he wasn’t anyone’s choice at all. That is just one of the million things that made him perfect. I realized that there were two reason why a puppy was not what I really wanted. One, puppies find love easily, I wanted to give my love to a dog who didn’t make the first choice cut; I didn’t want to win a bidding war. Also, I’m not sure I could have brought a puppy into the house knowing that Max was nearing the end. It just felt wrong, for both of us.

So I investigated no less than 100 rescue organizations until I found the one that felt perfect. More on that next.