A Pet Beyond First Impressions

How Faye Found Her Home

By: Bernard Zeitler, Yahoo Contributor Network

At a time before my wife and I were married, we had concerns for her small dog, Molly. Molly was very inactive and had been getting treatment for Cancer. She was an only dog, so I suggested getting her a friend. My wife had avoided doing that in the past, because Molly had always been the only dog in the house, which meant she may not do well with a second dog. After some discussion, we came to the conclusion that it might perk her up a bit, because she was alone much of the day. We headed over to the Cascades Humane Society Shelter to look at dogs, and we ended up finding a Beagle mix named Faye.

Faye looked sad and lonely in her kennel, so we asked about her. We learned that she had been dropped off by a family who was moving and could not take her with them. She also had had several people who had brought her back. We would learn that she could be a bit temperamental with people, but we gave her a chance anyway. In her early days with us it was not uncommon for her to growl and or nip at us when we tried to correct her, and we considered taking her back ourselves.

While her temperament was a challenge for us, she really seemed to be loving and protective of Molly. Molly went from sleeping and laying around a lot to dancing and barking more and more. Faye had brought joy to Molly, so that alone was enough to override our concerns. For several months Molly had returned to the happy dog we had known, so we attributed it to Faye. Sadly, Molly died two days after our wedding, and we, along with Faye, mourned the loss.

Faye showed a great deal of compassion for us and also mourned the loss as well by being much less active for over a month, and we saw mostly her temperamental side and mood swings even while showing care at just the right moments for us.

Faye, a dog who has a grouchy streak in her and who had been returned before, has found her forever home with us. We have realized that sometimes you have to go a bit beyond the initial few days after bringing a pet home because even though we were ready to return her early on, we could not feel more differently today. She is quick to apologize to the point that often we do not even register her nip before she does so. She is one of the most loving dogs I have ever known and we believe that she is very precious.