Monday, December 19, 2011

How Bella Came into Our Lives

In July, Dave and I started this saga of adding a new dog to our home and we original wanted to adopt a rescue. We search NoVa for Lab Recues and found two. We applied at Lab Rescue of the LRCP (Labrador Retriever Club of the Potomac, Inc.). We were contacted by our Adoption Coordinator (AC), Jake, and we were soon approved. We started monitoring the website and we found one Dave and I liked, Lorrie. We visited her at her foster family and we brought her home. But she didn’t get along with Draco. And we returned her two days later heartbroken but relieved.

We continued to look on the website and email our AC almost daily. And we quickly learned two things:
1. Adopting a dog from a rescue is challenging and frustrating
2. Our AC is an idiot

We started looking into breeders. I wanted find an English Lab breeder who didn’t breed labs as their income. I scoured the internet and decided I should only contact breeders approved by our local Labrador Retriever Club. I contact all the breeders listed in Virginia and one in West Virginia. The one in West Virginia was in the town of Harper’s Ferry. I worked in Harper’s Ferry when I lived in Winchester and Dave’s parents live 10-15 mins from there. I thought this might be a sign.

The Harper’s Ferry breeder was Chilbrook Labradors, and the owner Debby informed us that she did not have any puppies available but she would put us of the distro list for the future.

So we continue to go to Adoption Days looking for a dog we both liked. Dave was especially picky. He hardly looked at the website and he rarely liked any dog we saw at the Adoption Days.

Then in mid-September we received an email from Debby, JoJo her chocolate Lab was pregnant. And there were puppies deposits still available. When I told Dave, his eyes brighten a bit. And I knew then that Dave wanted a puppy and no other dog was going to win his heart.

But adopting a rescue was important to me. I wanted to give back to the community by rescuing a dog someone had given up. And in my own mind, it was a way to honor Hunter. By adopting a dog I was not trying to replace him but taking in a lost and forgotten dog to honor him.

I told Dave we will go to one more Adoption Day and if we didn’t find the perfect match we would put a deposit on one of JoJo’s puppies. We went to the adoption and it was raining and cold and our AC ignored us the whole time. There wasn't a single dog there which caught either of our eyes. We went home and I emailed Debby.

Then on Saturday, October 8, 2011, eight puppies were born to JoJo and CH. Chilbrook Lord of the Rings. On Monday, Debby told us one of the three girls would be ours.

That is how we got here. I set out to adopt a dog in need and we ended up getting one from a breeder. But I still want to give back, so Bella, if she is willing, is going to be a Reading Therapy dog. She and I will give back to the human community and maybe we will find a way or two to give back to the cainine community too. In honor of Hunter.

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