For those of you who may not know, this is Vegas. Vegas is the Princess, she is a total Daddy's Girl, and she is pretty much the cutest dog ever. : )
Now for her story…
Hubby and I moved in together in June of 2004 (living in sin...I know). He was moving out from his roommates and ended up taking "their (meaning the house)" dog. More on that story later. We decided that he, now our dog, Bubba, needed a friend because he just always seemed kind of lonely and we thought there would be no better way to keep him entertained than with a new playmate!
Thus began the hunt for another dog throughout the summer of 2004. Hubby and I went to every animal shelter and no-kill shelter in town. All of these visits usually involved me falling in love with all of them, begging for all of them, and then leaving in tears when I realized that we couldn't save them all. We walked through so many barking aisles in made my head spin, but knew we would know when we found the right one.
In August, we took a trip to a local animal shelter in Bedford, Texas. It is a small shelter, or what anyone would typically call "the pound". Most of your local shelters do euthanize due to space issues so those were definitely the first places that we tried. Most of the dogs up for adoption were big dogs (that is the theme at most places so if you are in the market...adopt a big dog...puppies are cute but they grow up into big dogs too...but I understand I can't talk too loudly because we adopted a small dog AND got a puppy), which wasn’t off the table, but we didn’t want Bubba to feel dominated in any way since he was the first dog of the house.
So anywho...we were walking down one aisle when this cute little girl caught our eye. She was all black, had tons of hair, and just seemed really sweet. We opened the cage to take a look at her and instantly Hubby fell in love. He was 100% smitten. We checked out her papers and realized that "Diamond" was a stray from Fort Worth (how she got to Bedford, I don't want to even think about) and unfortunately was not up for adoption quite yet.
Just FYI: Typically shelters will keep animals on hold for 5-7 days to see if they are claimed before they are able to be adopted.
We decided after playing with her for a few minutes that she was the one, verified that she would be available in a few days and said we would be back.
We came back every day to visit “Diamond” until she was available. I think it was a Friday when she was adoptable, so we went first thing in the morning. When we got there, we checked in and told the front desk girl that we were there to adopt the little black Pomeranian mix. She seemed less than thrilled that we were there and said she wasn't sure if she was still available. We of course quickly went in the back and checked and when we saw that she was still there, we snatched her up immediately! We realized after the fact that we think she worked for a "rescue" or one of those places that "rescues" dogs and then tried to sell them for a profit. Good intentions I supposed, but still makes me INSANE.
ANYWAYS, off my soapbox. We paid our $60 adoption fee, signed our papers promising that we would spay her, took our cute little girl (who was about a year and some change old) and headed home! I would be lying if I said I was 100% on board with getting her at first. I had never had a small dog. I wasn't really the type for a high-maintenance prissy dog like a Pomeranian, and I just wasn't sure how she would get along with Bubba. Hubby was confident though that she was supposed to be with us, so I trusted him, and hoped for the best.
The first couple of weeks were hard. She and Bubba were less than immediate friends. He was nothing was curious about her and she wanted ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with him. She seemed terrified, annoyed, and would do anything she could to get away. Then came the housebreaking issues. She was 100% not housetrained. She would kind of get it, and then I would wake up and step in a big ole' pile of dog pee first thing in the morning. Ahhh...refreshing. Oh and then there was the poop. Oh the poop. Our newest family member had a hard time holding in through the night therefore, she would graciously relieve herself in our bedroom. By the door mind you, but her poop was tiny and hard to see in the dark. Bitch. This led to the unanimous decision that she would be sleeping in her crate at night instead. This of course fixed the problem and she now has the bladder and bowels of an angel! (Except if Hubby and I are out too late, then she punishes us by pooping by the back door...whatever...)
After the puddles of pee and the hiding in fear had worn off, she started to grow on me and I knew she was definitely a keeper. We were now in search for a new name because "Diamond" was just not going to do, it sounded too stripper-ish/American Gladiator-esk (yeah, going old school on that one!). Soooo, we did what any logical person would do when searching for a new name for their dog (don’t judge me people...I was only 21 at the time okay!) we got on a site that allows you to enter your name and gives you options as to what your Stripper name would be. Let the comedy in sew. We, of course, typed in our names first, followed by "Diamond" and was greeted with a whole list of options, one of which was Vegas. Hmmm. Cute, sassy, slightly fitting of a diva...it was PERFECT!
Vegas is now roughly 7 years old (I can’t believe it) and is the comic relief in our house. You cannot have a bad day when you see her throwing around her toys, stalking and barking at her cookies, and ripping a singing greeting card to shreds. She is our middle child, I would say Hubby's favorite, and is a joy in our lives. Granted, she did take some work, is still afraid of all other dogs except for Bubba and now Bailey, and scoots on the carpet when she needs
her anal glands squeezed...ummm when she needs to go to the vet...but she is our precious girl and reminds me every day of the importance of adoption.
Happy Pups!
