It all started in the fall of 2008. I had graduated from college, moved home with my parents, and had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. In short I was completely lost. My friends from college were still in Salt Lake and my friends from high school were mostly gone. I begged my parents to let me get a dog. I thought that if maybe I could get some old dog from the shelter that no one else wanted I would at least have one friend. Well they said no over and over and over again. So finally I decided that if I could not bring a dog home I would go to the dogs.
I started volunteering at the Cache Humane Society in October of 2008. There were few things in life I had enjoyed up to that point more than I enjoyed spending a couple days a week at the shelter. It was really just mundane stuff you know, cleaning cat cages, walking dogs, giving the occasional bath, helping with an adoption, or answering the phone. But I had so much fun. This filled my perceived need for a dog for awhile. Then right before Thanksgiving two ladies from Idaho brought in a stray puppy. She was the most beautiful puppy I had ever seen; chocolate lab with a little patch of white on her throat. She was so scared and little and I fell in love with her right away. I knew my parents would never let me keep her so I came up with a new plan. Little Abby would find a home really quickly but she had to have a 1 week waiting period to make sure she was not sick before she could be adopted. I thought she should spend that 1 week waiting period at my house. Surprisingly after only minimal begging and complaining my parents agreed. So I brought her home after spending $50 at the Wal Mart on puppy supplies and dog food. That was the best most tiring week of my life. The carpet at my parents house has never been the same since but I think everyone really enjoyed having her there. She was adopted by a cute little family after a few days and I only cried a little bit when she left.
There were dozens more puppies I wanted to foster but by that time I had moved into an apartment and the roommies weren’t too keen on puppy pee, although I can’t really blame them. But from that experience my family now has adopted 4 dogs between myself, my sister, and my mom. When they complain I just remind my parents that if they would have just let me adopt a dog when I first asked we probably would have stopped there. They don’t think that’s very funny. But over the last 2 ½ years I have turned my desire to have a dog into a desire to advocate on behalf of homeless animals everywhere. I have found so many ways to help them but I will talk more about that later. I will next share with you the stories behind our 4 furry family members.
