Happy first gotcha day, Summit!

A year ago today I was impatiently waiting for class to finish at 4:30 because I was going to the kennel to pick out my dog. I had waited 22 years for that moment to arrive. I had waited all summer to get our foster dog, waited through 3 wonderful weeks with our foster greyhound, and then suffered through another week and a half until that day a year ago. Believe me, 4:30 just would not come.

But it finally did and my boyfriend and I drove an hour to the kennel. I already knew who I wanted to adopt. He was a beautiful fawn male named Ghost. I had fallen in love with his picture online and he was going to be mine. The kennel volunteer had e-mailed me a few days before our appointment and said she had the perfect hound for us. He was a 5 year old return named Dexter and he was white with red ear patches. I replied that we would look at him, but in my heart I knew there was no way we were adopting him. He was a little too old and the only colour I did not want was white.

We arrived at the kennel. I was practically bursting with excitement. The volunteer let us in and said we had to meet Dexter. I said sure. She went and let him out of his crate and he came prancing up to us excitedly. We put a collar on him and took him for a walk. He was happy, seemed to like walking, and had some cute quirks. We went back to the kennel and put him back in his crate. We liked him but I wanted to see some of the others maybe. I went to say hi to Ghost. He was even more beautiful than his picture. The volunteer laughed and pointed over at Dexter's crate. He was giving us this horribly sad, mournful look like "Why did you put me back and why are you looking at him?".

We didn't walk any other dogs that day. Dexter was the safe bet. He had lived in a home for 2.5 years until unfortunate circumstances had forced his owners to return him. He had lived peacefully with 2 cats and would surely not try to eat my 3 rabbits. He had no separation anxiety which was my biggest concern with our landlord living upstairs. He loved walks, he was happy and friendly. We went with the safe bet. I wanted a dog I would be able to keep and that wouldn't stir up trouble when I was busy with school.

Ironically, almost exactly a year after we adopted Summit, Ghost and his new family moved to our town. We had our first play date last weekend with the boys. Ghost is happy and outgoing, he's energetic, he's quiet. He probably would have worked out if we'd adopted him. But honestly... my first thought when we got the boys together was how Summit was actually prettier than Ghost! Summit is absolutely the perfect dog for us. I don't know what I would do without him. He's just my good boy. He doesn't get into trouble. He doesn't cause problems with our landlord. He leaves my rabbits alone. He loves to train. He is perfect. Love is blind as they say! Happy first gotcha day, Summit! Here's to many more!