Wednesday morning had come early, and my husband was on his way to the grocery store in order to take advantage of some early-bird food bargains before the rest of the crowds arrived. He’d made it about a mile down a lonely road that was surrounded by farmland before giving up and returning home.
From a distance, he assumed he was looking at a bag of rubbish that had been thrown out a vehicle window; but, when he came closer, he saw something moving and discovered it was a puppy that had been left on the side of the road.
As he approached the sad little dog, he assumed she was dead until her little tail began to wag. He then realized she was alive. He picked her up, loaded her into the vehicle, and drove straight back to his house.
I work from home and got a phone call from my husband just as he was about to pull into the driveway; he informed me that he had a little surprise for me. I stepped outside to the passenger side of the vehicle, where he glanced down at the floorboard, which of course caused me to look down as well, and there she was: a scared, wet, and yet lovely little dog who was around 6-weeks-old and had gotten inside the vehicle.
We have three other dogs and a large number of kennels of varying sizes, so I set up a kennel for her, bought some puppy food, and provided her with some fresh drinking water. For a few hours, she slept soundly in her bed.
We argued whether or not we should keep her, and ultimately concluded that three dogs would be plenty. My husband was on his way to the Pinal County Animal Care and Control Center to make sure she was adopted by a caring home as soon as possible.
Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t stop thinking about her and eventually contacted my husband to tell him I wanted to keep the dog. Who knew we were the caring family she was looking for? It was too late; she had already been placed in the system, and we were forced to adopt her.
I was impressed by the shelter manager, who informed my husband that the shelter will take care of all of her vaccinations and microchipping at no cost, and that the adoption fee would be cut by half. It was an obvious choice. She was on her way back to her permanent home, where she is doing quite well.
Lucky, along with our other rescue dogs, has become more than just a member of the family. I couldn’t picture my life without these wild, fantastic canines. They are my everything.
