My boyfriend (M) and I just celebrated Sonny’s 3rd birthday (and 2 year anniversary of adopting him) this week. We got him a little cake from a dog bakery called Polkadog. It was so cute! (I think I heard they may start selling their products in Target!)
Just so you get an idea of the size, that is the large candle from Yankee Candle
I wanted to take a minute to talk about Sonny because he’s just so freakin’ cute.
M had been talking about getting a dog for a while and then he got laid off. He determined that getting a dog at this time, especially one from a shelter, would probably be best because he would be home to take care of him and get him acclimated to a new life.
On April 18, 2010 we decided to go up to the Northeast Animal Shelter to see what dogs were available. We had already discussed that if we didn’t like the name the dog had and if he was young enough, we would change his name to Sonny. The first dog we saw was named Bopper. He was a cute black and white dog that looked kind of sad and had something wrong with his eye. But he just looked so cute. So we decided that if he wasn’t already being considered and no other dog struck our fancy, we would go back to him after we saw all of the other dogs at the shelter. We saw a really cute brown and white dog named Leo, too. He was a little guy (and my second choice!).
Anyway, after walking around and seeing what the shelter had to offer (including a dog named Edwin with a serious underbite), we decided we wanted to meet Bopper. We asked the lady if we could and she took him out of his cage and we went into a visitor’s room. We sat on the floor of the visitor’s room and he climbed right up into my lap and gave me a kiss. Love. He went to each of us and did that. So we decided we wanted to take him outside to give him some more space to run and explore, etc.
First picture I ever took of him.
He likes me, he really likes me!
How could you not fall in love with that face?!
Anyway, we found out more about Bopper, though they didn’t know much: he was originally from Indiana, liked to chase cats and horses, and was around a year old (maybe a little older). However, we got to the shelter late and had to wait until the next day to take him home. So on April 19, 2010, Bopper became Sonny and our lives were changed.
He’s the cutest, most loveable snugglebug ever. Sometimes, I think he thinks he’s a lapdog and he tries to curl up in my lap. Or I end up squished on a corner of our long couch while he takes over the rest. He loves to sleep with his head in my lap or tucked under my legs. He’s so cuddly I just can’t stand it and want to bite his face (in a purely loving way, though). He’s not even a big dog, probably considered medium-ish, about 50 lbs.
M and I moved in together last April, a couple of weeks before Sonny’s first adoption anniversary and 2nd birthday (since we didn’t know his actual birthday, we decided it would be the day we met him he stole our hearts: April 18). It was going to be a new experience for all of us. We were both moving out of our parents’ houses for the first time (I did live at school but that is different from “real” living on your own), and I had always grown up with a cat (she’s actually still alive and just turned 19…yes 19), and it would be a new place for Sonny again.
We’ve been here for a year now and, as I mentioned, just celebrated Sonny’s second adoption anniversary and third birthday. He’s our little lovebug.
And at the risk of embarrassing myself, I want to share this picture taken on my birthday last November:
(I think that was the wrong one, I copied it from my phone and it was automatically cropped…but he was lying on the couch behind me and put a paw on each shoulder and stayed like that for a good 10 minutes)
I think he may be what’s called a “reactive” dog and he’s very territorial. He barks at everyone who approaches our house, especially the front door…even my parents. Acutally, he’ll even bark at us if he only sees our shadow and doesn’t really it’s us right away. We need to work on it. So it’s hard to have people over to our house. But he is getting better around my parents at their house, which is very encouraging. He didn’t bark once the last couple of times he’s been around them, but then again that was at their house, not ours. It’s definitely more at our house than anywhere else. (So if you are familiar with this type of situation and have any tips, help, tricks, etc. please share them!)
But we love him very much and really can’t imagine life without him!
So you can definitely count on seeing those monthly posts. (as well as my monthly wrap ups!)
