A few weeks ago, my friend Emma took a dog out of the SPCA for the day: his name was Rocky. His breed is yet to be determined, but he has a black coat, brown eyes, the cutest smile, and a spotted chest. She brought him to the house and my roommates and I instantly fell in love. Well, I did at least. We brought him to get a pup cup, walked him for what felt like hours, and sat with him on the porch for even longer. We loved him so much already that we decided to keep him overnight. Unfortunately, he smelled, and was shedding a mixture of something that wasn’t just fur. We didn’t want to bring him in the house until we gave him a bath, so we brought him to the softball field where we gave him a wash and he met the rest of our teammates. We were nervous about him being around so many people since we were told he wasn’t great with men, but he did amazing. He napped during our team meeting, did so well with the bath, and was loving all the attention. That night, the four of us and Rocky had a sleepover in Emma’s room and woke up to him coughing in the morning. We walked and fed him and got him another pup cup before we had to drop him back at the SPCA.
A few days later, we went back and took him out of the shelter for another day, and a few days later went back again. We loved him so much that it became painful to bring him back to the shelter. We tried to find him a home with someone we knew so we could still see him from time to time but we were turning up empty. This went on for a few days until a friend of Emma’s decided to take a chance and open her home to him. He stayed with them for 2 days until some issues came up with the man who lived there. Things went downhill from there.
Emma had to pick up Rocky from their house that night because they didn’t feel safe with him there. We were distraught because although his file said he may have issues with men, we had been spending time with him for over a week and had no issues with him before. Emma brought him back to the shelter the next day and because of the issues that happened, he was deemed unadoptable and was going to be put down. Obviously, we couldn’t let that happen, so we decided to adopt him ourselves; the problem was we are not allowed pets in our apartment. We texted our landlord and begged him to give us some time to find Rocky a home; he gave us 4 days.
Those four days may have been the four most stressful days of our lives. We posted on every platform of social media, called everyone we knew, texted every phone number we had, and researched every adoption agency and shelter within a four-hour radius. And yet we came up empty. Any family we found was nervous about him not being good with men and everyone else wasn’t in the market for a dog. We asked our landlord for a few more days and he declined. We were out of options and out of time.
Emma slept in her car for a night and slept at a friend’s house for a night, but it wasn’t going to work longer than that. Luckily, after a call crying to my dad, he agreed to take Rocky in. We brought Rocky to meet my dad and my dog a few times but ultimately my dad decided to take a chance on him.
This was last week, and now, Rocky lives happily ever after at my parent’s house with my family and dog, Leia. Regardless of his previous issues with men, he loves my dad. He follows him around and has not had any issues with any of my family members. We get daily facetime calls and pictures from Rocky, and everything worked out in the end.
Ultimately, we have 0 regrets and couldn’t be happier with where he ended up. Usually, the rate in which I fall for a man backfires in my face, but this time it paid off. We were able to save a dog that was scheduled for euthanasia and save a little piece of our hearts along the way. Rocky is happier than ever, and I feel so lucky we got to be a part of his journey. For anyone thinking of volunteering at the local shelter or wanting to take a chance on a shelter dog, my advice is to do it. Yes, things could go wrong, and it will definitely be a test for your mental toughness, but it could also go extremely right. Maybe it is just my need to change a toxic man, but it is so worth it to earn the love of a dog who hasn’t given or received it before. It’s special, and so are they.