Bailey's Story
Bailey joined our home in January 2008 at an estimated age of 2 to 3 years old. We adopted her from the Arizona Animal Welfare League. This great organization rescued her from the local dog pound in October 2007. When I viewed her picture on the website I just knew I had to go down and meet this dog. Although she was friendly she was also very detached at the same time. I can only imagine what her past 6 months must have been like. I immediately called my husband and told him he had to come down to the shelter and meet this dog. Our home was currently without any pets since our last dog had passed very suddenly in December of 2007 at the age of 10. I feel that the good spirit of our deceased dog was what drove me to look at the website that day and see Bailey available for adoption.
We met Bailey on Tuesday, debated about a day if this was the dog for us or not. I went again to the shelter on Wednesday to have another visit with her. I was convinced we had to adopt her. I called the shelter Thursday and asked if they could put a 24 hour hold on the dog since I did not want to bring her home before the weekend where I could be with her when we brought her into the home.
The shelter told me that they were unable to put a hold on her for 24 hours and another couple had been in to visit Bailey twice. If we wished to adopt her, we were going to have to adopt her and take her home. I called my husband and told him he had to stop on the way home and adopt the dog that very afternoon because someone else was looking at her.
We brought her home on Thursday evening. I was so excited. I called my parents and asked them to come and spend Friday at my home so she would not be alone in our home on her first day. She learned to use the dog doors and was very polite for my parents on Friday her first day in our home. When I came home from work on Friday, Bailey was sleeping on the floor in her dog bed.
Her weight was indicated as being 65 pounds on her adoption paperwork but when we actually took her to the vet for her check up that Saturday, she really weighed 100 pounds. Our vet suggested we take her to the local pet store for some obedience training since she was so large and of course she needed to lose some weight.
Bailey now weighs 88 pounds, a much better weight for her combination breed. I think her success in losing weight can be contributed to the NUTRO® dog food we have been feeding her.
During her sessions at Obedience Training we found her to be a very smart pupil and she readily picked up the commands The instructor thought that someone must have spent some time with her at one point in her life because she was doing so well with the commands. Bailey has continued to surprise us with her gentleness around children, her protectiveness of our home and family and her great disposition.
We have learned that she likes to play in the snow, swim in the lake when we go fishing and take naps on our couch. She is like a huge fluffy teddy bear.
We were so lucky to have found Bailey! Thank you for the opportunity to have entered and won the free dog food contest! We have fed our dogs NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® dog food for years.
- Keri, Rich and Bailey, Arizona
Sydney’s Story
I first met Sydney when my neighbor, who is a member of the Miniature Schnauzer Rescue of Houston, was fostering a litter of five puppies and their mother who had been found abandoned under a house in Austin, Texas. The shelter contacted the rescue association as mom was a schnauzer and they had all been transferred to Houston. As all five puppies were boys they were named after the Jackson Five and Sydney was originally named Michael.
The first time I saw him he was about 8 weeks old and had bright blue eyes – from the Australian Shepherd side of his mix – over time they turned aqua and then finally pale golden brown. As soon as I saw the blue eyes I knew he was the puppy I wanted and I adopted him when he was three months old.
He has changed our – my husband and my – lives a lot. He is helping to fill the void left when our border collie/terrier mix dog died in August of 2008 at the age of 15 and keeps us both very busy playing with him and walking him. He enjoys a trip to the local dog park on Sunday mornings and loves playing with the other dogs in the small dog section and swimming in the pool there. I think the only thing we would change about him would be the way he wants to mouth us – I have bruises all over my arms – but he is still teething so that should stop soon. He spends most of his mornings lying under my desk while I work either chewing on his rawhide toys or just napping.
He was eating NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® dog food when I adopted him and he is doing very well on it so I plan to continue.
- Susan and Sydney, Katy, Texas