Today is Celebrate Shelter Pets day and I couldn’t let the day go by without celebrating my special shelter girl, Delilah.
Holy woof, are you going to complain about me again?
I know, I know. She’s a little bit on the crazy side, but there are many, many people who get normal shelter dogs that aren’t as crazy as this one. “-) Besides if Delilah was like Sampson what the hell would I blog about?
My girl came to us via American Lab Rescue in May of 2007. She was found in a high kill shelter in Lousiana, sent to foster in Tennessee and eventually made her way to us.
We were told she was between 2 to 3 years old, but our vet guessed her age to be about 18 months. Not having the benefit of knowing when she was actually born, our vet’s office listed her date of birth as December 1st. We choose to celebrate Delilah’s birth on the 14th. A day that is very special to me, as it was my beloved grandmother’s birthday as well.
The rescue told us she’d been spayed but we discovered shortly after us that she wasn’t. When she went in for her actual spay we discovered that she’d already had at least one litter of puppies.
Having spent the last 7 1/2 years with this amazing dog it simply boggles my mind how people can so casually drop a pet off at a shelter without a second thought. Someone, somewhere lost an amazing opportunity to have a life filled with love and laughter, all courtesy of this amazing being.
You know what they say, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” And Delilah surely is a treasure to me.
Welcome to Day 2 of the #Advent4Dogs Giveaway hosted by Kol’s Notes, Dogthusiast, Heart Like a Dog, NEPA Pets & Wag’n’Woof Pets. Today’s give away is sponsored by Hugs Pet Products. Enter now for your chance to win 2 Silicone Baking Mats and 2 Chilly Mats.
Today’s trivia question can be found at NEPA Pets.
Aw, I love that Giving Tuesday and Celebrate Shelter Pet Day are on the same day! Such a great way to kick off December <3 Enjoying the Advent Giveaway so far…great products 🙂
The fact that anyone can throw away an animal is something I just don’t get! But there stupidity and loss is very much your gain!!
We agree with Lauranne …. their loss your gain. Have a terrific Tuesday.
Best wishes Molly
Shelter pets are THE BEST! They come with some baggage, but everything else they bring to the party (and make no mistake, it IS a party) makes up for it a million times over.
Very nice post about your favorite furry devil! Delilah keeps your life from ever being boring…kind of like cat bro Bert and Bailie at my house. Bert is the shelter pet, and we are pretty sure we know why his furry behind landed at the shelter. He is lucky Mom doesn’t believe in returning pets or he would have been back there in no time! We have two of those Hugs silicone molds and they are the best on the planet!
I am still amazed that someone gave Blueberry up! I mean – she’s not only unusual looking (in a good way) but she’s also sweet as pie with a hint of mischievousness that makes her fun in unexpected ways. I often try to imagine what she must have look like as a puppy – I’m sure even cuter in all her small puppyness. And then the fact that she was dumped at the shelter with her 7 puppies is even more appalling!
However, in a way I am glad someone didn’t want her, because if they had kept her, a rescue would not have seen her or her puppies, and I would not have gotten the opportunity to adopt her. I’m telling you, Blueberry has ruined all other dogs for me. She’s about as perfect as a dog can be. 🙂 And while that may be boring (unlike Delilah) – I like boring.
I’m glad you adopted Delilah too, otherwise, there would be far less entertainment in the blog world. 😉
Happy Shelter Pets Day to you and the ‘fur-iends.’ A couple of my favorite dogs were both shelter pets and I couldn’t have asked for more. They were loyal and loving and more than once made me pull out my hair with their crazy herding & general antics but wouldn’t have traded one single hair off their heads. Both were Old English Sheepdogs that I got 18 months apart and if you know anything about OESs, you’ll know they are not for everyone. 🙂 Luckily I just fell in love with those two characters. The female was so much like the Shakespearean character, that we called her Puck. She spent 12 years completely bedeviling her older OES ‘brother’ as well as the rest of us throughout her 14+ year life. I always have to chuckle out loud when I recall how she used to literally drag him by the back of his neck–her form of ‘playing.’ He would have this wide-eyed look of “oh shit, she’s got me again…HELP!” but he’d fall for her engagement tactics every. single. time. Thank you for reminding me of how special shelter pets are even when they are ‘puckish’ with a dash of devil sprinkled on top–I can definitely relate to just how you feel about your girl. <3
All pets should be celebrated! Whooa
Lily & Edward
Today is National Mutt Day too! So I’d say it’s definitely a day to go adopt a mutt from the shelter!
I’ve always known that shelters had wonderful dogs. But nothing proved it more than fostering shelter dogs. Several of them have been absolutely perfect. And I can’t understand how anyone could ever let them go.
Lucky you that Delilah’s original people didn’t know what a treasure they had.
Ducky is my “shelter pet”. She’s a little nuts, a little anxious, a manipulative little troublemaker, and one of the two most loving, sweet little dogs I’ve ever known. I’m not sure she ever realized what might have happened to her if we hadn’t adopted her; but I am sure she has always been thankful that I got her out of our local (high-kill) shelter. I cannot for the life of me figure out how a three-month-old puppy could have become a stray. How do you lose a puppy and not miss its presence?! Oh well — their loss, our gain. She loves us and we love her.
Thanks to all of you who adopt shelter dogs, they need love too.
Wonderful post! Really resonated with me. Both of my labs are rescues and neither is normal lol. Sophie was a puppy when she came home and the drive/energy wasn’t expected. We channelled that into dog sports. When I found Swyatt, his bouncing crazy off the wall energy was what drew me to him….maybe I am the crazy one LOL. Now over a year later, we have gotten past the crazy bouncing to somewhat controlled focused crazy bouncing in agility training 🙂 Whoever let this marvelous dog go definitely didn’t know what they were missing!
Delilah is a gem. 🙂 Her case is not the first time I have heard of people being told a shelter dog had been spayed when it had not. I do not understand how they make that mistake.
I don’t either. I think it’s just lazy veterinary work. 🙂