How a Facebook Ad Completed Our Family

When we talk about rescuing animals there is a deep sense of satisfaction that comes from watching them become more confident and comfortable with themselves. There is a lingering sadness of the life they had before you, and I think almost everyone wishes they got their rescue just a little bit sooner to save them from some of the trauma they endured.

I don't want to talk about that today, while I am proud of the confidence my dog has gained, and I am so proud of his ability to survive and adapt, I want to talk about what he did for our family, our relationship and our sense of empathy.

Buddy's story start's like many other rehomed, or rescued animals. He was posted online, with a short description, little to no information as to what we were getting into, and accompanied by a collection of pictures that showed a Chewbacca-looking ball of fluff. I fell in love instantly and immediately began my mission for my partner to allow me to bring him home.

That was, to my surprise, that was actually the easiest part. After reaching out to his previous family that had posted the ad, and asking preliminary questions we agreed to meet in a local park. After paying the lady $75 to take him and his belongings home with us, we immediately knew that he had found his "fur"ever home.

We got Buddy at one of the lowest points of our lives, and he immediately began to brighten our day-to-day. The first night we had him, we both witnessed pure love and happiness. I remember it as the first scene in Lady and the Tramp, where Jim Dear and Darling go to put Lady in bed, but after her begging them they agree to let the puppy sleep in the bed for one night and in the next scene we see an older dog sleeping with Jim Dear and Darling. Buddy cuddled under our blanket, into the crook of my stomach, and it felt like peace.

Buddy, then taught us patience that was so well needed before we had a child. The old dog had never been housebroken, was food shy, and later very food aggressive, and let out screams, not howls, screams when we would leave the house for the day. There were several days where one of us would nearly be late trying to get him to go outside, or eat a tiny bit of food before we left the house, and even once resorted to giving a friend a key and leaving a note on the door for our neighbours and landlord about the howling in hopes that they wouldn't think that we were hurting him and call the police.

We learned that there was no quick way for him to unlearn the habits he had learned in worse situations, and that there was nothing we could do for him short of being patient and calm in order for him to regain his confidence.

Nearly 4 years later, we have finally started to rectify most of these situations, and as he gets older we find our mission is getting harder, but he continues to teach us. We have learned what completely unconditional love is and learned how to show it. Through getting up late nights to let him outside, just for the cold little dog to jump back in bed, and curl as close as he can before giving you one little kiss on the hand and falling back asleep. He taught us an appreciation for little things in life through the full-body tremors of excitement he experiences at the smallest things; like playtime or bedtime, or going outside.

And the truly remarkable thing that this 11lb ball of fluff and love has taught me is that you can heal from any situation or circumstance. While we may never truly know what his life was before it, we watched him adapt, overcome, and continue to be kind and loving. He has taught us that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel if you're willing to find it and you are able to find it without losing the parts of yourself that make you kind, loving and empathetic.