Posted By Kelly Harding | 3 comments

I have done several posts, sent many tweets and posted lots of pictures on my Facebook page of pets looking for their furever homes.

Some of those pets have been lucky enough to have found that someone special to take them in and care for them.

However, I don’t hear about their lives afterwards.  I wonder about them; are they happy, have they settled in alright, do they now have other furfriends to play with?

So I decided to find out!

I asked my friends who have found homes if they would share their stories with me. The response was so overwhelming that instead of doing one post, I will do a weekly feature telling their stories.

You will hear of how they came to their new home, struggles they may have encountered, how it changed the lives of both the pet and the humans involved.

Week 4

Ralphie’s Story

Ralphie came to Sara when she was in her 3^rd year of vet school.  Sara just had knee surgery and was confined to the couch. Her boyfriend was out getting supplies when he came across a Labradoodle puppy.

This puppy was on his way to a rescue because he had outgrown his display cage, the only thing he hadn’t outgrown were his enormous feet!  Ralphie was an out of control shedder, (no matter how many people say doodles don’t shed!) and no one wanted him now that he was past the cute puppy stage and into the “awkward” stage.

Sara’s boyfriend got him for free, along with a bag of food, a collar and leash. He brought him to Sara as a “get well present” after all, what’s better than a 3 month old, non-housetrained puppy when you can’t walk!

Ralphie was a terrible puppy.

Ralphie chewed Sara’s textbooks, ate her collection of DVD’s,  jumped up on the counter and ate an entire roast that had just come out of the oven!

Sara bought Ralphie a supplement that was supposed to help calm him down – he ate that too!

The neighbours complained about his constant barking.

Sara’s roommate had one non-negotiable rule: Ralphie was NOT allowed on the furniture.  Sara’s roommate decided she didn’t want to live with the world’s worst behaved puppy and moved out.

Sara was overwhelmed with this dog that was thrust upon her and didn’t know what to do.  As a last resort she bought him a crate (she had never crate trained before), then everything changed, housetraining was finally successful, and her belongings were finally safe.

Ralphie started going to doggy daycare where he would run all day then come home exhausted.  Sara learned how true the saying is “a tired dog is a good dog”.

Sara discovered that Ralphie’s passion in life was showing off.  He learned tricks in minutes, Ralphie currently has a resume of over 30 tricks which he will dole out for anything from a pat on the head to a delicious treat.  Ralphie discovered that pockets on strangers should always be explored because they often contain food.

Ralphie rapidly went from being the puppy that everyone despised to being the dog that no one could resist. 

Everyone adores Ralphie, even people who “don’t like dogs”.

He has a way of forcing his way into your heart, whether you want him to or not.

Next week’s feature pet is Leroy, Ralphie’s adopted brother.  See how Ralphie adjusts to a new dog in the house!