Some Things Are Just Meant To Be

I had never planned on owning another dog again. Not after my last one crossed the rainbow bridge. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs more than any other pet, but it just wasn't the right time. My sister-in-law, Dana, however, was planning on saving a dog from being put down due to overcrowding in the rescue facilities all throughout the city of Philadelphia. She already had a few dogs and cats at this point, as well as four children. I thought she was crazy, so I decided to go with her to watch the insanity ensue.

We decided to go to ActPhilly, an animal rescue center about 40 minutes or so from where I was living at the time. I had never been there until that day, but always heard of them around the city. I was always curious about these places. That gave me more motivation to join her and two of her children in going to save a precious dog's life.

ActPhilly was due to close at 8 p.m. that night. We arrived there around 7:30 p.m.. We had gone for a specific dog that she saw on Facebook that was scheduled to be put down that night, so they introduced us. That dog was very moody and just plain mean. Clearly, Dana wasn't going to take him. That led to her asking what other dogs were timestamped for that night. I couldn't believe how many they said were scheduled for 8 p.m. that very evening.

We were shown a few more that weren't a great fit for their family. Then, the door opened and this gauntly looking, slow moving, obviously extremely ill pitbull, terrier, and black lab mix walked through the door. I was in the far corner trying to stay out of the way when this dog walked right past everyone and every other animal in the room and headed straight towards me. When she approached me, she laid her head on my lap as to say, "hello". We had this instant connection. However, Dana's dog did not like her one bit!

Dana tried to adopt this one. She was sick with an upper respiratory infection and was found along Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Christmas Eve. Her name...Eve. The volunteer there informed us that they can not allow Dana to adopt Eve because of how nasty her dog, a chihuahua, was with Eve. It's now 7:45 p.m. and she was timestamped for 8 p.m. on the dot.

We decided to just call it a night and walked out to the car. As we all piled in, my niece and nephew started bawling their eyes out. They were so upset that Eve was going to be put down in 15 minutes and they couldn't help save her. Dana was sure that after a few days together that all the dogs would have gotten along just fine. It pulled at my heartstrings, so I decided that if Dana was 100% sure that she could make this work, that I would go in and say I want her. I would adopt her and let Dana take her home just so she wouldn't have to be put down.

I walked back into ActPhilly and announced that I fell in love with Eve and I want her for my own. They let me adopt her, even before she was fixed, take her home to finish her antibiotics and then bring her in for a free surgery once she was fully recovered. Twenty-five dollars and some paperwork later, I saved a sweet dog's life and the kids weren't sad anymore. I did an awesome, selfless thing and was feeling so good about myself.

The whole ride to drop me off, Eve sat on my lap with her head on my shoulder looking out of the window. She was the most gentle dog I've ever met. Though, she definitely is no lap dog, even with her ribcage literally jumping through her fur. She was shaky too. This poor soul had definitely been abused. She really made my heart melt.

Two days had passed since I legally adopted Eve and my phone rang. It was Dana. She said this dog was nothing but a pain since I left her car that night. Apparently, as soon as I left, she started crying and whining. She continued to do so the whole way to Dana's house. Dana lives in New Jersey. Not very close to my house in Pennsylvania either. She also said that Eve kept breaking out of her cage no matter how she would rig it to keep her in and that she would attack her other dogs. Her point...she wanted me to go "return" the dog.

I knew that if I took her back to ActPhilly that they would have no choice but to put her down. I couldn't allow that to happen. There was something about this dog that I just connected with. I couldn't see her die just because she was sick and about 4 years old. I had no choice. I took her as my own.

Once she had her health back and was fixed, boy did she liven up! She could get into anything. This dog must have been trained for something because she can do the most amazing things. She can open doors when she wants to get in somewhere. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes, but she even opens my sliding glass door to our back deck. I didn't think a dog could do that!

There are so many reasons this dog is special. The most important two for me are what makes me see that it really was fate. Eve always sits next to whoever is sick in the house and guards them. She alerted me when my dad couldn't breathe right and needed an ambulance. She also got my mother when I stopped breathing from an asthma attack while having bilateral pneumonia. It was almost as if it was her way of paying me back for saving her life as well. I can't say she isn't a handful, but I will say this...she was meant to be mine!