We lost our Golden Retriever to cancer at only eight years old. He was our first dog and we were heartbroken. While there was definitely no replacing the dog who many deemed “the world’s best dog,” our hearts had a big ol’ hole in them that needed filling. That’s when we found Oliver, whom we brought home from Ohio from a different rescue. He was two months old at the time and as he grew and time went by, we realized he needed a friend. He is what many people may call “the world’s worst dog,” but we love him.
After many months of begging Dad, the four girls in the family (Kaela and Coryne, 15, Leigh, 17, and Mom) finally convinced Dad we should adopt yet another dog. I had been following NEAS on facebook for quite awhile and kept falling in love with puppies who were posted that morning, only to be adopted that afternoon. Time was speeding by and I wasn’t about to waste any more of it, so that morning that Dad said yes. We set off to Salem from Marshfield, Ollie in tow!
I hadn’t had time to take a look through the available puppies but I didn’t really care at that point what we got; I just wanted a puppy. Unfortunately for us (but not for the puppies), most of the 70+ puppies that came in that week had been adopted already! That’s when we found Temperance. She was sleeping at the time snuggled up with her brother, Studio, and didn’t have her blue card, so I moved on to the next dog first. The next dog didn’t work out for us so we went back to check on Temperance, and she had her blue card! She was timid, but very curious. At first, we weren’t too sure she’d work out for Ollie because he can be very rambunctious, but after watching them together, we realized they were good for each other. Opposites attract, right? He got her to come out of her shell a bit and she got him to calm down a bit. It was perfect! We brought her home and we’ve had her for about three days now!
Temperance (“Tempe” – formerly known as “Lady”) is struggling a bit with what we think may be a bit of kennel cough (she goes into the vet tomorrow morning), but she’s getting spoiled rotten with heating pads and humidifiers and snuggles. She’s so good about taking her medicine, too. She’s a little champ. Despite her being a bit sick at the moment, though, she bounds around the house and is really coming out of her shell! She’s a lot of fun and she’s definitely got spunk! We just adore her and Ollie does, too. He will not leave her side and he’s been very well behaved since she’s been here! NEAS did a fantastic job matching her with us and helping us out. I’ve never been to such a great shelter before. It’s so clean and nice and everyone’s very knowledgable and honest!
Oh, and yes – we did name her after the FOX show “Bones” if anyone caught that! 🙂
– Leigh (and the Fields family)
