Maybe I should start out by saying I did not plan to be a dog mom of 3 so early on in our marriage.
I more or less thought we would have our 1 border collie who behaves graciously and obediently. We would take him fishing, hiking, and on numerous other adventures–Ya know, because 1 dog is significantly easier to handle than 3.
And having 3 dogs really makes you feel a lot more rooted in life than we anticipated to feel at such a young age.
Also, my house NEVER feels really clean but I’ll link some products at the end that do s i g n i f i c a n t l y help.
But at the end of the day, we are doing our part in providing loving homes to animals that deserve all the love and more.
So, a little back story on each of our pups.
Cache’s Story
Cache came about after the unfortunate death of his brother, Orrin whom we had bought first. (Yes, bought. Don’t judge. We’ve done and will continue to do our part in rescues and adoptions)
The owners of Cache and Orrin’s parents sold us Orrin with parvo, then lied about it being parvo and said it was basically nervous stomach due to rehoming.
We were young and dumb and took them at their word. So, I took off work for a couple of days and began to realize that Orrin’s health was rapidly declining.
That’s when we took him to the vet and found out he had parvo and despite our best efforts, he passed away.
My heart was completely shattered. I mean, I cried to the point of throwing up on multiple occasions. I just remember thinking to myself, “This was our baby together. How could this happen?”
The owners ended up giving us our money back, which mattered to me none. I would rather have our puppy.
But, fast forward a month or two and they still had one puppy left. And we had first dibs. This puppy too had had parvo but survived. Which meant he was immune to our now parvo infected property.
So, Cache is was.
I’ll admit, I was angry and closed off to him at first. I was still healing from Orrin, guilt ridden that we didn’t take him to the vet sooner.
And the weirdest part of it all is I think Cache knew that. I can’t explain it really but, he took to me.
This was literally the first moment we met. I had laid down and within seconds he curled up next to me, resting his head on my neck. (He still sleeps like this, by the way)
And from that moment on he healed my heart.
He’s been the best dog. But I worry about him much like I would a human child. Which has taught me a lot about my parenting style.
Cache is fiercely obedient and hates any sign of trouble. He lives to please and love and that’s enough for him. He’s helped me through panic attacks and road trips. He super loves his dad and anything outdoors. He’s our most adventurous pup yet.
Aspen’s Story
Aspen entered our lives at the most inopportune and unexpected time.
I had just started OTA school and we were adjusting to being newly weds.
I was sitting in class one day when my husband sends me a picture of this beautiful dog he had found in the middle of nowhere, miles and miles from any houses or stores.
She was skin and bones, hair was missing in large chunks all over her body from malnutrition, but her eyes were the kind of blue that pierces your soul. The way she looked at my husband as he snapped her picture, it was almost a look of gratitude. He fed her something small that he happened to have in his truck–I think it was leftover breakfast biscuit and she loaded right up.
We immediately took her to the vet as she needed some major help and love. While she recovered at the vet, we looked for her owner but quickly realized wherever she came from was long gone and/or completely unsafe for her.
So, we added the second missing puzzle pieces to our little fur family.
She was skittish and exhibited all the signs of abuse and neglect. The one thing she loved and still loves more than anything are snuggles.
At first, she had to be the one to initiate snuggles–ya know, trust and relationship building.
She also tests my patience more than any of our other animals. She’s feisty and strong headed (probably gets that from me, let’s be honest).
But I love her. We love her and all of her sassy glory.
River’s Story
Just when we thought our home couldn’t get any more full, along came River.
River was a young pup, 4-5 months if the vet had to estimate, who had very clearly been dumped, abused, and abandoned.
Why he decided to follow my husband the mile and a half home on one of his spontaneous runs, we’ll never know.
I’m not even sure how he made it because his neck was severely cut and scraped from what we presume to be a dog fight, he was skin and bones, and probably dehydrated as well.
We took him tot he vet, had him cleaned up and given his shots and brought him home within 24 hours.
He is our true puppy.
Digs millions of holes in our beautiful yard, taunts his brother and sister by stealing their toys, even has peed on our furniture a time or 2 despite our best efforts to have scheduled potty breaks.
But when he looks at you with those big brown eyes that softly say “thank you”, you melt. It’s so obvious there isn’t anything this dog could do to make us leave him.
And to think we almost gave him away. I’m thankful each and every day we didn’t.
At the time, three dogs just seemed like way too much. And there was no way in heck we were going to have THREE inside dogs in our humble cabin.
But here we are…
So that’s the condensed story of how our home has grown in love and fur over the past three years.
I’m not going to lie, some days are harder than others. There are times where both mine and my husbands jobs require us to be on our feet 8+ hours so all you want to do is come home and be a couch potato. But that’s not possible because the pups need to be walked and ran for exercise.
But I honestly wouldn’t trade the constant fur in my house, nose kisses, and endless snuggles for anything.
If you’re curious how I keep my house even remotely clean, it is all thanks to these products here.
I learned about the touches vacuum from my parents and honestly, whoever invented this–wow kudos to you.
I’ve just come to accept the fact that I probably clean more than most and my house never seems perfect but, as I’ve already said–I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Life with Elizabeth 