Jaffery's One Year Adoption Birthday

Jaffery's photo on PetFinder.com

One year ago today, we adopted Jaffery.  :) This is our adoption story. I hope you write your pet adoption story and then come back here to link up!

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Jaffery - Part One: 

I had been wanting a playmate for Dakota for awhile (Dakota and I had both asked for a puppy for Christmas), and I had been searching local shelters and PetFinder for photos and profiles to tempt Alan with.

In my searching, I had come across an adorable little puppy, Jaffery, I had my heart set on. I emailed the shelter, asked about the process, filled out the papers and prayed we could decide before he was adopted by someone else. After much discussion and sad faces (from Dakota of course), we decided that the next weekend we would go to Petco where they were hosting an adoption day with multiple shelters, including the one housing Jaffery.

The night before we spent a lot of extra time with Dakota, walking, playing, appreciating.

Saturday morning came. For the first time in many, we had our alarms set. I jumped out of bed, got ready and piled everyone in the car. We were excited. 

We got to Petco and made our way to the back where the pets were. We walked through, peeking at all the dogs. My heart breaks thinking about how many there were. Many of the dogs were barking or jumping around in their kennels. Then we saw Jaffery, in his kennel, being so quiet. He looked almost scared and sad. We were a bit worried with Dakota's energy, this puppy wouldn't be a good fit. We decided to first meet one of the more rambunctious dogs. His name was Hero. Hero was a beautiful black lab and he was full of energy. They let us take him outside to play and see how he and Dakota would get along. He was a great dog, however was actually too much for Dakota. Hero was having the time of his life outside playing in the bit of snow and mud, however Dakota backed away. I felt bad just taking Hero right back in, so we played with him for awhile.

Jaffery's photo on the shelter site and PetFinder.com

I then went back inside and asked to take Jaffery for a walk. They hooked up the leash to collar, yet he didn't move from his cage. We had to coax him out. Once he was out, he was gentle, but you could tell he was excited to be moving around. When we got outside and to Alan and Dakota he wanted to play. Dakota was hesitant at first, however quickly warmed up to him, and they began to run around and tumble in the dirt.

Alan and I looked at each other. We knew we had to take Jaffery home with us!

I went to take Jaffery back inside and he didn't want to go in without Dakota! :)

Luckily, we had the paperwork ready to go! I went to talk with the adoption folks, learning a little more about Jaffery (medical history, tags, age, that he had been malnourished at his previous home and thus why in a foster home). With the exchange of the paperwork, a couple signatures, and a small adoption fee, we went on our way, our little family just a bit bigger.

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Tune in tomorrow for  Part 2 and a giveaway from the Etsy Shop, Dogonnit!

Please click on he Mister Linky below to share with us a post you have written (just now or years ago) about your pet adoption experience!