All About Riley.
Wanted to stop by to update you all on our newest family addition! This is Riley Bear Gibbons, our new baby!
If you are friends with me on FB, then you have been up to date with all things Riley but I wanted to post our experience adopting from a shelter!
Three weeks ago, Steve had a rare day off and we decided to stop by one of our local pet shelters, just to look and see if they had new puppies (we had been looking for a dog online for sometime, but nothing that stood out)We got dressed to go swimming, and decided to stop by the shelter before going to the pool. For awhile now, we wanted to adopt or buy a dog, but for one reason or another it never happened. We got used to things falling through, like contacting breeders and them telling us that the dog I wanted had been sold, and things like that, so I figured a shelter would be better way to go.
We walked into Operation Kindness and filled an application, waited for them to take us back to the puppy area and as soon as we walked in to see all the baby puppies we locked eyes with our sweet Riley. They told us that if we wanted to play with a dog we were interested in, we needed to get his name and take it to the front desk, so they can get the family and the dog in a room.
We immediately knew Riley was our dog!
He was so sweet, and had the sweetest disposition!
He was in on the very top, with a burgundy collar and the sweetest face!
I ran up to him, took his name and went to the front desk!
We went into a room, Matthew & Olivia were so excited! We got to play with him for a bit, and he was hyper, but not overly hyper. He was playfully sweet and adorable. I looked at Steve and he was just as excited as I was, as his only 'dog request' was to get a dog that would grow medium to large for running. Afraid that something would happen and we wouldn't be able to take him home, I shyly asked the woman what we needed to do to secure him.
To my surprise she replied: "Just pay our adoption fee, and take him home!"
I was soooo happy! Seriously! that's it? No, 'let me check your shoe size, to make sure he's a good fit?' Honestly, breeders we dealt with made it super hard just to schedule a visit with a dog!
Our baby Riley (originally named Paulie) was neutered, with 2 rounds of shots and with one free month of vet care to go home with!
OH, and $25 dollars off at the pet store for supplies!
We paid for him, signed all the documents and took our first family photo!
We then made it to the pet store and purchased all our stuff!
He was a little nervous in the car.. (I have scratches as proof)!
We got home and started our little life with him!
And we have not looked back since.
Here are a few facts about baby boy:
Riley's original name was 'Paulie'
He was 8 weeks when he came home with us.
The shelter labeled him as a collie/shepard mix but our vet thinks he is a collie/lab mix.
He will grow to be 60-80 lbs!
We named him 'Riley' because that is our street name, and we wanted a way to remember the street in which we got our first real job, our first home, and now our first dog.
He is a bitter! And has Olivia a little scared! But we have plans for puppy preschool to help with that!
After 3 weeks he is sleeping almost through the night (only wakes up once for a potty break) and then sleeps until about 7am.
He eats like a COW!
Doing really well with potty training! He has accidents now and again, but only if he is really distraced. For the most part he rings a little bell on the door, and waits for me to open the door.
WE are all IN LOVE WITH HIM. We honestly feel like our family is totally compleate! and we feel very blessed!
xoxo,
Jazmin
