She Saved Me

In August 2019, our family companion of nearly 20 years. Our dog Spanky passed away after a week of fighting to stay alive. He was the toughest and most loving dog I'd ever known and loved.

With heartbreak still mending, there wasn't optimism in finding a lovable pet, especially with the pandemic amid us and multiple losses accruing, including a dear friend's death.

It was the summer of 2020, and during the pandemic, I had strictly quarantined because of my parents being one of the most at-risk people. I struggled with my mental health because I had a good friend that I just found out was dead, and I also had just left a new job in March because of the widespread of the virus, and I couldn't forgive myself for exposing my parent's to it if I got it. I was going to wait out the year like everyone else had planned and at least what we thought at the time.

Then mid-June, I got a message from my best friend. She had been on this journey of finding the perfect companion. Nearly two years, we had gone around and searched for a companion for me.

My family has rescued animals my whole life, never once going to a puppy mill sourced location or breeder that we are aware of. In fact, most of our pets found in shelters, given to us, or saved from a home that couldn't take care of the pet anymore.

During my journey of finding my companion, I frequented the same animal rescue shelter, "Friends of Upland," which, by the way, has the most outstanding volunteers and care for lost and turned-in pets that I've ever seen or heard of. Mostly, but occasionally visited other shelters out of the area. It sounds like it would be pretty easy to find a companion, huh? Well, not so much, but here is why. First of all, I think it was essential to connect with the animal, meaning the pet and myself would have to have a connection, and of course, chemistry grows stronger over time. However, most meet and greets went well, but for the most part, not a match. The dogs would either be easily distracted and uninterested, too rambunctious and wouldn't fit in my home environment, along with other things such as health problems I wasn't prepared to devote to medical expenses, etc. The times I really did connect with the dog, it was heartbreaking because there was a waiting list, and I was often not the 1st on the list, and like I said before, this shelter had a remarkable reputation; so the adoptions were not difficult at all and most of the time went to the first people on the list.

At this point now, I wasn't sure if it was a good idea for me to find a companion, and I was losing hope. But wait, remember that message my best friend sent? This was when everything changed.

Rolling around, chasing her tail, smiling, just a silly dog. I was IN LOVE. I know, it silly...every dog is like that mostly, and how could you even know. Well, I just trusted my instinct, and I knew.

She was obviously the perfect dog that I had manifested. And here is what happened.

On June 19th, I went to pick up my best friend Angie and her daughter Raven, who had been very excited on this journey with me since day one. We messaged the owner, and within the house, I got a response. Upon arrival at the house, we took necessary precautions. The current person taking care of Marley was her original owner's mother. There were some complications in keeping her because of not spending enough time with her and other reasons.

As soon as Marley saw me, she rushed me. The kind of rush that a dog does when they are happy to see someone they know. If I knew Marley the way I know her now, this wasn't normal. But she just knew. We both knew.

Marley is six years old. I'm told she's a Labrador mix, probably because of her size. But she looks like what I've come to research as a Treeing Walker Coonhound.

I don't know a lot about her upbringing other than she has always been adorable and "needy," which was just a way to say that she loved to be around you and wanted to go where you go. I'd call her "attached."

She got in the car, and she was ready to go. It was funny; she made it so easy. So we headed to the dog park. She had no interest in the other dogs. She just wanted to play fetch with me. In fact, if other dogs approached her, she would just run away, but not in a timid way; she didn't interact like a normal dog. I think she assumed she was just people. I even left her alone with my best friend Angie for a minute as I had to throw something away outside the gate, and it gave me a chance to see how she would react. The funny thing is, she noticed immediately. I could tell as she waited by the gate until I returned because she didn't want me to leave her.

So after she seemed to be uninterested in playing with other dogs, we headed back to my friend's house for a little while, and she got acquainted with her rescue Floki, two-year-old Blue Heeler with a tornado of energy. I've known Floki since he was a puppy, too, and we are close buddies. They got along pretty well, but as I said at the park, she seems to have no interest in playing with other dogs unless she is in the way of her getting a toy. This doesn't mean she is aggressive. She is just uninterested and will literally ignore dogs unless they are aggressive towards her.

When I finally brought her to my home, she ran around and got to know the rest of the family. We have an acre of land and a decently sized house with a little clutter. She seems to love her new home and finds plenty of things to do, including chase wild rabbits, squirrels, etc. But never once has she harmed another animal; she's not the hunt and kills type. This is a trait that I really love about her, but I know plenty of other people who would rather have a hunting and security dog than a companion. She is the perfect companion for me, and I think she knows that.

She is the type to be running up to the door and wagging her tail when you get home. Hanging her head out the window while on car rides. Sniffing around every new place she goes. When I first found out she's a sniffing dog, the sound was like a large animal running at us from a distance. Then I started to observe her as she sniffed around and made a loud snorting as her nose hovered above the ground. I learned other funny things about her, like how she immediately went to bury her bone after I bought her one from the store. I was in awe because I never seen a dog actually do that. All our dogs, and I mean my family, have had dogs since I was a baby. I have never seen a dog grab a bone, take it to the dirt, and start burying it. I didn't know if I should be offended or tickled from the sight of it. She definitely wasn't a regular dog, but she was pretty typical as far as dog things. If I'm sitting on a chair, no matter the size, if she sees a spot for her, she squeezes on the chair to cuddle up like a puppy.

At home, everyone loves her. We all have had to make sacrifices and changes during this time, but Marley is part of the family now. She follows my mom even when my mom goes to the kitchen, goes outside, or really whatever activity is going on; she follows her side. I think she wants to make sure she is ok and my mom loves her despite when she nags about how she is constantly following and observing. She says all Marley is missing is the ability to talk human and help out around the house because she is already so close to being a human.

My dad calls her his roommate. This is because he sleeps in the den these days. His health hasn't been at its best, and he has lost the ability to walks a lot, but she keeps him company and binge watches shows with him.

Even my brother's kids are absolutely in love with Marley. I love to see how my nephew runs up to Marley and embraces her every time. These kids enjoy having her around. Did I mention she knows how to climb stairs? I mean, this dog is fearless with stairs. The first time my brother installed stairs onto my nephew's treehouse, she ran up those stairs in a flash. Even if you were standing on them, this, of course, was a behavior that had to be safely adjusted after she nearly pushed someone off once or twice. She's not a bad dog at all, never violent. She is just excited, less than graceful at times. She is, however, so well trained. I couldn't believe how easy it was for us to train her with things. I've worked with training her to hop on two feet, jump, lay down, sit; I almost got her to roll over, but she isn't going for it still.

I honestly think I struck gold with her. I feel like our 20-year-old companion Spanky is to owe for sending us, Marley. I know we could never replace Spanky because everyone knew him, and there wasn't a single person who's meet Spanky that didn't adore him. I feel like Marley will be adored by everyone she meets over time. She's not going anywhere, and she's perfectly at home now.