I mean, have you ever seen such a cutie? He is 100% the cutest dog on the planet. Sorry not sorry if you think your dog is the cutest, but you're probably wrong. I mean, your dog might be cute, but he/she is not PERCY cute. Just sayin'.
Sam and I knew that once we bought a house, we'd finally be able to adopt a dog. As soon as our offer on the house was accepted, I started looking on Pet Finder and local dog rescue sites right away. It is unbelievably difficult to adopt a dog! The application process is intense. They want pictures of your home, your yard, your fence! They may want to schedule a HOME VISIT! They want three references that aren't family. They want to know your entire animal-owning-history. WHY don't you have a dog now? If you had a dog before, WHY don't you have one now? Did you give him up? Did she die? Who is your vet? What's your work schedule? What will you feed him/her? How much exercise will you give them? Will you take them to doggie obedience school? If you have other pets, tell us their entire temperaments, how long you've had them and the likelihood they'll get along with a new dog.
It's intense. Like, they want more info than the mortgage company did when we were buying the house. Anyway, we were open to a dog on the small side in a breed that suited our lifestyle. We didn't want a dog with so much energy that they'd be miserable at home while we were at work. We also didn't want a total couch potato. I did some research and after reading about all different breeds, I felt that a Border Terrier or Cairn Terrier would be the kind of dog we could give a great home to. A dog that's active and loyal and smart, but can also chill while you watch TV on the couch at night.
I applied for lots of dogs over the course of a couple of weeks and we were continually rejected. Like, we didn't even get to the point in the process where they ask to see our home or ask follow-up questions to the application. Just flat-out rejected right off the bat. It was starting to get frustrating because it also wasn't clear WHY we were being denied the opportunity to adopt a dog. Was there something about us that the rescues felt was off? Did we not appear to have the potential to be good dog parents?
Finally, one day I saw a post on Pet Finder for a Border/Cairn Terrier mix named Percy. His story was unique- He was living in Texas where he'd been born, but needed to be adopted to a family up north. Texas needed to be in the rear-view mirror for him. He was about 2 years old, already house trained and he seemed to have a great personality. I wrote the application of my life. I probably spent over an hour trying to answer every question perfectly. When I hit the "submit" button, I was on edge, desperately wanting this dog, but feeling really down-trodden over the myriad of rejections we'd received.
Within a few hours, I had a reply from the rescue, asking if they could call me and with some follow-up questions! After a successful chat on the phone, they offered to let me Facetime with Percy, which I was more than thrilled to do. I spent about an hour on the phone/Facetime with the rescue being pretty intensely interviewed. I was asked to provide references and told they'd be in touch with their decision. I barely slept that night. I'd already fallen in love.
The next day, the rescue called to say that they decided to let us have Percy! I cried I was so happy! The next step was to sign the contract (almost as intense as the application), and to work out the details of getting him from Texas to New Hampshire. In the end, the rescue decided to send him up on the "Rescue Road Trips" truck. This organization drives all over the place, picking up pups and driving them to their fur-ever homes, or at least close by. We had to drive about 2 1/2 hours to Lisbon CT nearly a month later to pick up our boy. It was SO worth it.
It took Percy a few weeks to really settle in and start to feel comfortable, but he's definitely part of the family now. I just love him so much.
XOXO
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