My Adoption Story: How I Became a Dog Mommy to Lucy

In honor of National Puppy Day, I wanted to take a moment to honor my best friend and my child, Lucy by sharing with my readers the story of how she came into my life.

Lucy came into a time of my life when I was looking for healing. About a year before I got Lucy, my childhood pet Maggie died at the age of 15 (which for Rhodesian Ridgebacks is extremely rare). Losing Maggie was something that was heartbreaking for me, but for my mother at the time. Check out the post that I did about her death here.

My mom did not want to adopt a dog right away, and decided that we would begin looking at puppies until spring of 2019. However, my mom and I never got a chance to adopt a new member of the family, as she unexpectedly passed away in February 2019. Since I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do next since I just experienced a traumatic loss, getting a dog was the last thing that was on my mind.

During the months that followed my mom’s death something that continued to be a source of comfort was my boyfriend’s dog, Nala. I would actually visit his house just to see her half of the time. One of the few times of happiness during that time was in fact spending some time with her and her sister Maya.

About five months later, I decided that I wanted to get a dog of my own. I wanted a beagle, which after having a large dog, would be the perfect size. I wanted to get a girl dog, and I wanted to name her Lucy after my favorite Peanuts character.

I went on Petfinder and discovered a dog named Lucy. She was four years old, and was up for adoption because her owners had children and she had a hard time with that. Lucy was a Jack Russell Terrier Beagle mix. I met Lucy, we hit it off, and the adoption began to proceed.

That is until the owners stalled giving me Lucy. I paid the fee, but for a few weeks, I did not get a dog for many reasons. They ended up reconsidering my application, and said that I was no longer a good fit for her.

I was devastated.

While dealing with the loss of this (as I wanted a companion and a friend to call my own as I craved having a dog of my own), my boyfriend searched for beagles in Connecticut.

He found two at the Danbury Animal Shelter. After looking at the pictures, I knew I loved Abby. However, after what I just experience, I was not interested in looking for another dog.

We did end up at the shelter that Saturday afternoon. Upon arrival, we learned that one of the dogs would not do well with an owner that is not home during the day. So, they introduced me to Freckles.

Freckles came out running towards me and jumped on me to give me a kiss. We were allowed to walk her, and while she was hyper, she was instantly attached to me. I was in love with her too, but didn’t want to get too attached to her after what had just happened. I decided to fill out the application, although I had trouble filling it out because she was jumping to cuddle with me.

When we left, I was in tears and Freckles was crying and barking too.

However, a week later I went back to Danbury Animal Shelter. This time, to bring Freckles home.

Freckles became Lucy and the rest was history.

Lucy has been a part of my home and family since September 2019. Although she drives me crazy (and peed on my bed once), she is the one thing in my life that I know keeps me grounded and happy. She continually brings me joy on bad days, and is one of the goofiest and happiest dogs that I have ever met — and also one that has the most energy. While she is about to leave puppyhood behind, she will continue to be a puppy to me.

Happy National Puppy Day to all of the puppies out there. Do you have a puppy? Let me know in the comments below.