We would be the crazy people who would get a dog and a cat at practically the same time, while having a (at the time) 7 month old baby.
When we found our house and were getting ready to close on it, my husband expressed his desire of getting a dog. Me myself had never had a dog. Ever. I think dogs are high maintenance and drool too much. I grew up only ever having cats and I loooove cats. Had I never met Ryan, I would have been content being the crazy cat lady. I've never minded other people's dogs I just never had the desire to have one of my own. But Ryan grew up with dogs. Huge dogs. Dogs the size of polar bears. I wasn't having that. So I told him that if we were going to entertain the idea of getting a dog, it would have to be a German Shepherd. I've always liked that breed of dog a lot for some reason. He agreed, liking that breed as well, so the search began. I already followed the local humane societies on Facebook, so I browsed through their pictures and found an older German Shepherd that I wanted to go visit. We went in and played with him, but we were too late to adopt him, someone had already put a hold on him. As bummed as I was, I couldn't help but be happy that he had found a home. I kept my eyes open and one day I saw a picture of a German Shepherd mix puppy named Apple Annie. We went in and visited her and she immediately took to our son, and I saw the look on my husband's face and knew we had to have her. We took her home that day. We were still a few weeks away from moving into our new house so she had to stay with my husbands parents on their farm because we lived in a rental that didn't allow any pets.
Fast forward to 2 days before our move. I was working on cleaning our rental and playing with Evan when I heard this pitiful crying sound. I picked up my son and walked outside to see if I could hear it better. We took a walk all the way down the hill and I found a little kitten. She was hiding and when I talked to her she came running over to us. She was shaking and scared but she let me pick her up so I took her back to our house. I immediately texted a picture of her to my husband saying "Look at what I just found!" He of course let me keep her, we couldn't just leave her on her own outside. His one condition was that he got to name her. He decided on Oakley, since we already had an Annie. My husband is funny like that. When I took her to the vet, they said she was barely 4 weeks old and lucky we found her when we did since she got separated from her mommy she wouldn't have made it. I hid her in the rental until we got moved a few days later. She was not an easy thing to hide either! She could squeeze her little body under doors, so I was always worried that the land lord would be over and she would make herself known. Luckily that never happened!
Once we got moved into our new house, we introduced Annie and Oakley to each other. They took right to each other but I had to keep an eye on them because Annie played too hard being so much bigger than Oakley. I'm so glad we got them young because they will grow up together and be buddies. That was one of the main reasons my husband wanted to get a puppy, so our son could grow up with it. I think it's sweet. :)
While they are a handful, I wouldn't trade them for anything. They are hilarious and Evan loves them! I have several funny stories coming your way so look for future 'Tails of Annie and Oakley' posts. Have any funny stories of your animals? Post a link in the comments below, I'd love to read them!
All My Love,
Lyndsay <3
