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Nellie

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Romper: Urban Outfitters  |  Chambray: Forever21 (similar)  |  Loafers: Jeffrey Campbell  |  Sunglasses: Karen Walker  |  Belt: Zara (similar)  |  Bag: Rebecca Minkoff
I try to keep things pretty surface level on this blog for the most part… fashion, home decor, product reviews and the occasional recipe, but today I want to share something very close to my heart, and I hope you don’t mind.
I’ll start with a little backstory.  I have always been an animal lover, and pretty much always had dogs in the house growing up.  I can only think of maybe 5 total years of my childhood where we didn’t have a dog.  I actually wanted to be a veterinarian until I realized I absolutely can’t stand the sight of blood and that idea got nixed real quick.
Almost all of my dogs growing up came from breeders.  My family was always told that dogs from shelters are there because they are ill or have behavioral issues, and thus I grew up with that impression as well (I hate to admit that).  It wasn’t until I adopted a mutt of my own from a classmate whose dogs accidentally had babies that I started to question this idea of “purebred” only, and the notion that dogs should come from a breeder in order to be the best dogs.  Zoey, my first mutt is the smartest dog I know.
About a year ago, Jesse and I started thinking about adopting a second dog, as we had just bought our place and knew we were ready (Zoey was too!).  Instagram led me following various rescue organizations which opened my eyes to the hardcore truth.  Approximately 2.7 million animals are euthanized each year in shelters due to the fact that there is no room to house all of the homeless animals in the world.  This number is mind-numbing and chilling to me.  The reason there are so many homeless animals?  People who fail to get their dogs spayed & neutered, puppy mills (those cute little dogs in a teacup online or the puppies you see in pet stores), and backyard breeders (people who want to make a quick buck).  For this reason, I cannot see any reason to buy from a breeder until all of these animals in the shelter are free.    
We adopted our second love bug Archie in January from MaeDay Rescue in Los Angeles.  He is a dream come true for our family.  He has nothing but love to give and asks for nothing but love in return.  Archie was rescued by MaeDay from the San Pedro shelter after he was found running on the streets for days with another dog.  When I think of all of the dogs like Archie sitting in the shelter I cry.  There are so many perfectly good dogs just looking for a second chance at life.  They didn’t choose to end up there.  Irresponsible humans put them there. 
Now back to a few weeks ago where I met Nellie.  I heard a yelp one Friday night outside my place and was instantly concerned that someone was hitting their dog.  I look out the window to see Nellie, dirty, with bushes stuck in her side, and without a collar.  I ran outside to see my neighbor who had tried to pet her but she was scared and in pain, hence the yelp.  I fed her some food, got her into a crate and took her in for the night.  I reached out to our friends at MaeDay because I had absolutely no experience in taking in a stray dog.  They walked me through each step and offered to sponsor Nellie, which we are so grateful for.   
The next day we took her to the vet for an ultrasound scan where we found out she had just recently had puppies (although they were nowhere to be found), and had a giant abscess on her side that was swelling by the minute and causing her great pain. It is amazing what vets can find out from an ultrasound scan of your pet these days. You can learn more about the benefits of ultrasound technology by checking out some of the resources on this useful website: https://www.butterflynetwork.com/vet/overview. Anyway, the vet drained the abscess, got her on antibiotics, gave her all necessary shots, and put her on flea medicine.  The dog I brought home from the vet was not the same dog I found the night before.  She instantly jumped into my lap in the car and looked out the window with the happiest face I’ve ever seen.  She’s now spayed and recovering and looking for her forever home.  We sadly cannot keep her as our association has a two dog maximum policy, but we are so excited to see where life takes her next. 
A little more about her personality — She loves to play (she’s a terrier mix of some sort so running around is a must), she loves to chew bones, and she equally loves to cuddle.  Whether I am on the couch or reading in bed, she will come up and curl up right under my arm.  (She wants to be as close to you as possible).  She loves to give kisses and you know she’s excited to see you every time you walk in the room because her tail wags like crazy.  She is really shy to strangers at first, but once she knows you she bonds very quickly. 
If you know someone in the LA/OC area looking to add a pup to their family, contact MaeDay Rescue for more info on Nellie or any of the other adorable adoptable dogs they have. 

9 Comments

  1. Tuesday, July 28, 2015 / 6:31 pm

    Thanks for showing off sweet Nellie today! Unfortunately I am not in a position right now to adopt a dog, but I hope Nellie finds her forever home soon!

  2. Tuesday, July 28, 2015 / 6:36 pm

    This is so great to read! I've always been pro-adoption and anti-buying, so it's refreshing to see this. I'm an animal lover, too (we have two cats and can't have dogs in our apartment sadly)

  3. Tuesday, July 28, 2015 / 9:04 pm

    Thank you so much for sharing this message! I teared up reading it because this is so important to me as well. My family only ever got one dog from a breeder growing up, and once we saw what the place was like we were glad to get our doggie out of there, but also vowed to never buy from a breeder again. The rest of our dogs growing up were puppies that had been dumped outside of the city or that others couldn't keep. My husband and I adopted both of our dogs (more like kids :)) from small local shelters that are working SO hard to keep up and save as many animals as possible. I regularly advocate that people spay and neuter their pets, and also adopt. We look forward to adopting a 3rd dog, but are waiting until we can afford to fence our yard, so that we can give all 3 the best quality of life possible and more room to run!

    Thank you so much for taking Nellie in! I'm sure she already loves you so much and is so thankful to be taken care of. I will be praying that she finds a happy, loving and safe home soon!

    Jacy

  4. Wednesday, July 29, 2015 / 2:03 pm

    Our backgrounds are very similar. While I never thought shelter dogs were in shelters because they were ill or had behavioral issues, my family just always got purebred dogs from breeders. In my entire life I literally have never not had a dog. 3 years ago today (thanks Timehop!), I went to a shelter about 2-3 hours away to see a female bulldog mix that I had seen online after months and months of looking at dogs online. I had already filled out my application and emailed it to her adoption counselor along with an extremely lengthy email detailing my experience with dogs and bulldogs in particular. As soon as they brought her out, I fell in love and they approved me. She was my first mixed breed dog and my first shelter dog. 364 days later I ended up adopting another bulldog mix from a different shelter that was about an hour and a half away. And then 364 days after that, I got an english bulldog puppy from an Amish breeder (I still count that as rescuing b/c I saw that they had multiple breeds of dogs there that they were selling and suspect they might have been a small puppy mill and they were going to keep her to breed but decided they didn't want her and basically threw her in my arms and just wanted the money). I can't say that I will never get a dog from a breeder again, but these won't be my last rescue dogs. Hope you find Nellie a home!

    http://dogmomchic.blogspot.com/

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