Finnegan

A couple years ago, I started working at a dog rescue. I still lived with my parents, so the most I ever did was bring dogs home to foster, I knew they wouldn’t be sticking around too long. My mom had set a very strict ‘no more animals in the house’ policy. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of dogs I wanted to bring home for good. I’m a vet tech and animal lover through and through, I would save all of them if I could. But I was doing my best to abide by my mom’s rule, so the fosters typically only stayed overnight and were adopted the next day. Until Chance got off the truck.

His name was Nanuk at the time. He was a little husky mix, and he was so calm; totally not like your typical husky puppy. I sent a picture of him to my family group chat. Every one of them fell in love with him. Except my mom. Her rule still stood, but I convinced her to let me bring him home to foster. Long story short, he won the hearts of all of us, ad my mom told me that if he didn’t get adopted by the Saturday adoption event, then we could go pick him up. It was the longest 4 hours of my life. But I got the text that he was still there and the adoption event was done. We went tot go pick him up and started his new life as a Johnson dog; the best life any dog would want to live. He was supposed to be my dad’s dog, but I bonded with him almost instantly. He slept with me at night, he went to work with me all the time, and I paid the vet bills he quickly accumulated. While accumulating those vet bills, we found out that Chance had a rare disease. And it ended up taking his life way too soon. I made the awful decision that no pet owner wants to make, and he was only 6 months old. I had him cremated, and he sits on a shelf with some of his favorite toys and one of my favorite pictures of us.

I still worked at the rescue, but I decided not to foster for a while. I wanted a break, because losing Chance was so hard. However, a couple days after losing Chance, I saw a tarot card reader. Now, I know some people don’t believe in that, but I do. And this woman told me that Chance left me because there was another dog that needed my help more than Chance did, and he left so that I could keep helping them. A few days after that, the rescue coordinator reached out about a pregnant dog who would need foster until her puppies were old enough to be adopted. My mom said yes, and about a week later, Daisy and her unborn babies came home. Her 6 boys were born in my room, some of them on my bed, on October 26th, 2019.

Helping raise those boys was hard work. Daisy didn’t really want to be a mom, so I had to make up for what she didn’t want to do. A couple weeks in, I knew I had to keep one of the puppies. So I started searching for a new apartment so I could get my own dog and my mom couldn’t say no. The rescue coordinator was even willing to waive the adoption fee for me. From the beginning, the only brindle puppy stood out to me. He was a chunky boy, and he was so laid back. He was the first one to open his eyes. I decided he was the one when they were 5 weeks old. At that time, he was still laid back and calm, so it seemed perfect. Little did I know what storm I was bringing into my family.

Finnegan settled in great once his brothers went to their new homes. His dog sister was hesitant, but she tolerated him well enough. And then his real personality came out. Finnegan turned into a tornado. He was always running around, his zoomies were non stop, and he expected attention from anything 24/7. He was hard work. He took months to potty train, whereas Chance stopped having accidents after 2 days. He had so much energy, and it was hard to keep up with the exercise Finnegan needed. In the beginning, there were times when I questioned it. I questioned if I really was ready for another dog, or if I picked the wrong puppy. I wondered if I was really going to be able to give him the home he needed, and other times I wondered if his destructive behaviors would cause problems in my relationship. But we stuck it through. Me, my fiancé, my cat, and my fiancé’s dog. We all stuck it through, and man, we are so glad we did.

Today, Finnegan is just as crazy as ever. He is on daily anxiety medication to help with his overactive, anxious behavior. He sees a chiropractor once a week to help with his unaligned pelvis bone that has been causing him problems for the last year. His cat sister goes after him at least once a day, and his dog sister grumbles and runs away from him every other hour. He rings the bell to go outside 15 minutes after he just finished, and he doesn’t know what the word no means. But he also cuddles with his people every night on the couch. He gets so excited when we get home, and he doesn’t let his human leave his sight. He thinks everything was put on the planet for him, and you’d be hard pressed to find another dog he doesn’t think wants to be his best friend. And he gives so much love every second of every day. He has helped my heart heal so much after Chance, and I am thankful every day that I didn’t shut his mom out because I was grieving. He can never replace Chance, and I know that. And I still miss Chance every day. But I also love Finnegan every day. He is my crazy tornado of a dog, but he’s mine, and I wouldn’t trade him or his antics for the world.

Thank you for healing me, Finnegan. Thank you for knowing exactly what I needed and when I needed it. He next 10+ years are going to be crazy, I know it, but they are also going to be so full of love. If the last year and a half are any indication of what the rest of your life has to give, I can only hope I will be worthy of continuing to be your person. Thanks for being mine, Finnegan.